Skeith
An Occasional Master of BS
I mean being fair to Usopp he didn't really know a fight was going on.
An Aura of Freedom (One Piece/Pokemon)
- Thread starter DolphinMan
- Start date
- Crossover
Yep, and he had it on good authority that the crew wouldn't be in danger while they were there too. If he had known about what Baroque Works were doing, he absolutely would have joined the charge with either Luffy and Carue, or with Spruce. But he didn't, so he spent the climax of Little Garden chilling on the ship instead of playing a pivotal role in saving the crew.
Oh hey
I see absolutely no way this might have an impact on Ussop's future character development and slowly building sense of self-worthlessness that culminates in Water Seven
No Siree
- Location
- USA
Only real surprise here is Mr. 5 being able to hurt Julius. Explosion is a normal type move after all.
To be honest, I forgot about Explosion and Self-Destruct and treated Mr. 5's fruit like the explosions were fire type. Mind Blown is a fire type attack, so there is a precedent in the series at least.
Skeith
An Occasional Master of BS
If it were up to me, I'd chalk up ghost immunity to explosion and selfdestruct as ghost type being immune to Normal Energy in the attack so a normal explosion should affect them or another way is ghosts are immune to the shockwave (admitedly the worst part of an explosion) but still affected by the heat from said explosion.
- Location
- Gainful Employment
- Pronouns
- He/They
Considering how many sound moves are normal type, that actually makes a lot of sense.
Chapter 15: A Great and Mighty Wonder
There were many words which could be used to describe what transpired between Spruce and Vivi over the minutes which followed the request she had made.
Brutal. Bullying. One-sided. A domination. A travesty. A beatdown. Hopeless.
Such descriptions were better kept brief and isolated, as if one were to give an in-depth description of how events played out, Spruce would be vilified beyond compare. If someone were to, say, regale an audience with tales of the Straw Hats' adventures and they happened to go into detail on the first battle between Spruce and Vivi, it would completely ruin any chance of that audience having an ounce of sympathy for him ever again as they would all be too busy wishing for his death.
Some people would argue that calling their clash a 'battle' in the first place would be inaccurate to the nature of what really happened. At no point did Vivi and Bonbon even possess a sliver of a fighting chance against Spruce and Ria. At no point did they have any modicum of control over the flow of the fight. At no point, even before the battle had started, was the outcome in question.
And at no point had Vivi or Bonbon worn an expression of anything other than joy on their faces, even after their defeat.
Had Dorry and Brogy watched the battle for themselves, they would have commended the duo on how honourably they fought against such an overwhelmingly superior opponent. Sadly for Vivi's pride, the two had been busy bandaging themselves up and tending to their various wounds, and the battle had concluded too quickly for them to get a chance to watch it.
As the two trainers stood on opposite ends of their impromptu battlefield, and Vivi returned the fainted Bonbon to her Pokeball, Spruce and Ria found themselves cringing together at what had just happened. Behind Vivi, Carue stood frozen with an agape bill. The Straw Hats who had spectated the battle all had varying reactions of their own, with Nami sharing the duo's cringe, while Luffy and Zoro were impassive, and Sanji looked like he was struggling to choose between comforting Vivi and attacking Spruce. Spinner had been too busy spinning to watch in the first place.
"I… kind of thought that Vivi would at least stand a slight chance…" Nami mumbled. Julius had since returned to his Pokeball, unable to even bear witness to the battle himself.
"How much of a chance do you think Vivi would stand in a swordfight if I was her opponent?" Zoro countered.
"That's a good point, actually." Nami admitted.
"Alright! We can get going now that that's done!" Luffy said, wasting no time in turning and heading off in the direction of the ship.
The smile on Vivi's lips remained constant as she looked down at Bonbon's Pokeball, and then shrunk it to its smaller size in order to slip it into her pocket. With a shake of his head, Carue's bill snapped shut and he stepped forwards to drape a comforting wing over Vivi's shoulder. The gesture earned him a look of appreciation from the princess.
It was actually Vivi who was the happier of the two trainers, as Spruce, while no longer cringing, didn't appear to have taken the slightest bit of satisfaction in his victory. Even Ria looked sullen. The two approached Vivi and Carue together, and Spruce extended a polite hand, which Vivi didn't hesitate to take and shake gratefully. Her disposition surprised Spruce somewhat.
"Um, good battle." He offered, "I… did try and tell you that I was a bit out of your league… and I did say that Julius was the only other Pokémon that Bonbon could train meaningfully with…"
"Quack." Carue quacked, turning his bill up at him.
"I think I understand now, just a little bit." Vivi said warmly.
"Lu?" Ria said.
"Those two giants were able to fight for a century, not because of how much they hated each other," Vivi continued, "but because of how little. They enjoyed doing battle with each other because there was no hate between them. And… that's what I felt just now, with the two of us, and Bonbon and Ria."
"Of course I don't hate you!" Spruce said, "You're way nicer than the people that I hate!"
"Riolu!" Ria nodded.
"And the same to you." Vivi giggled, "I could never, ever derive any enjoyment from a conflict that would end in death. But without that element of death, there was a part of me that actually… enjoyed our battle, in spite of everything. You challenged me, forced me to think, made me compete, like it was a game between us. Not to mention that Bonbon was probably having the best time since she boarded the ship."
At the sound of their conversation, Luffy stopped in his tracks and looked back to watch the exchange between the two.
"They're not done yet?" He said.
"Well, yeah. Battling is one of the most natural things for Pokémon." Spruce said, "Every Pokémon wants to battle and get stronger, even if only a little bit."
"So when I said that I had no interesting in battling whatsoever…?" Vivi said.
"That was your choice." Spruce replied, "Some trainers don't want to battle, and that's alright!"
"Well, still…" Vivi said, "I enjoyed battling you, and I didn't enjoy battling the Officer Agents, but I don't think I can pick and choose. If I had taken you up on your offer before and trained more with Bonbon, we might have stood a serious chance of winning in our first confrontation with them. And as much as I didn't enjoy it, there was still something… liberating about being able to stand my ground against the both of them, instead of being forced to stand on the sidelines and rely on the aid of pirates. Er… no offence."
She looked towards the rest of the Straw Hats as she added that last bit.
"That's just reasonable." Zoro shrugged.
"I don't care how you think of us as long as you hold up your end of the bargain." Nami added.
"A shoulder to cry on, or a gallant knight to avenge such unforgiveable treatment?" Sanji murmured, still stuck a few minutes in the past.
"That's great that you can feel like that." Spruce said, "That's what being a Pokémon trainer is all about! Getting stronger together so you can take hold of your destiny for yourself."
"So if getting stronger is something that's going to happen anyway, I'd like to be able to use that strength in the service of my country." Vivi said, "Baroque Works will send even stronger agents after us once they learn about what happened here. With all that said, Spruce... if your offer to train with you is still open, then I'd like to take you up on it."
Zoro raised an eyebrow and Luffy tilted his head at the request, while Nami spared a glance at Julius' own Pokeball with a contemplative look on her face.
"Sure! You don't even need to ask." Spruce said brightly, "We'd love to train with you. Wouldn't we, Ria?"
"Lu!" Ria said.
"I'd be grateful." Vivi said, "And now I think it's about time we were on our way."
"Huh? You finished your duel already?" Came the voice of Brogy, as he and Dorry made their way over to the group, now sporting numerous bandages for the wounds they had suffered.
"That certainly didn't take long." Dorry said. The two giants narrowed their eyes down at the two trainers, as well as at Ria standing at Spruce's feet. Brogy developed a particularly solemn look before he spoke again.
"I am sorry for your loss." He said to Vivi, "The small tree creature fought most admirably, with the vigour of a true warrior! You should be very proud as its master."
"Um… loss?" Vivi said, "I believe there's been some kind of misunderstanding here."
"I did not have a chance to see it fight myself, but I still echo Brogy's sentiments." Dorry nodded.
"What are they talking about?" Spruce said to Vivi, and then to the giants, "What are you two talking about?"
"I am I mistaken? Did you not challenge your companion here to a duel, fought with your special fighting beasts which you command?" Brogy asked.
"No! Not like what you're thinking!" Vivi said, waving her hands about somewhat frantically as if to fan away such a notion from the giants' minds.
"Pokémon battles aren't fought to the death!" Spruce added, "We just go until one side knocks the other out!"
"A simple knockout?" Dorry frowned, "That seems like an underwhelming end to a duel."
"Do they seriously make every fight a fight to the death?" Nami muttered.
"Indeed, Dorry! If those were the conditions of our duel, then I would have won earlier in the day!" Brogy said, "Can you imagine? And after a hundred years, too!"
"Well I guess that giants and Pokémon are just different like that." Spruce shrugged.
"Different or not, you little people still saved our lives." Brogy said, "And for that, you have our gratitude!"
"We'd completely forgotten there was a price on our heads!" Dorry said.
At the mention of the bounties which Baroque Works had sought to exchange the giants' heads for, Vivi's smile dropped slightly while her gaze drifted regretfully towards the ground.
"Those people only came to this island because of me…" She said.
"RIOLU!" Ria barked, waving an angry fist up at Vivi. The sudden yell snagged her attention, and the princess recoiled slightly from the aggressive gesture, though seemed to nonetheless understand what was trying to be said.
"Don't be silly." Spruce said, walking past Vivi and Carue and heading over in the direction that Luffy had started off in, with Ria walking alongside him.
At Spruce's approach, Luffy turned his attention to the two giants, and gave them both a wave.
"SEE YOU, GIANTS! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" Luffy said, "DON'T KILL EACH OTHER!"
And on that note, the rest of the crew all moved to follow their captain in the direction of the trees, leaving the two giants behind. As they did, Sanji walked over to Spruce and began discussing his and Ria's earlier kill with them, and where they could go retrieve it from. Vivi and Carue both hurried to catch up with the lot of them, with the former sparing a glance back at Brogy and Dorry as they departed.
"I hope you're able to save your kingdom!" Dorry called out.
"THANK YOU!" Vivi replied.
Finally, the Straw Hats and friends vanished into the trees and left the two bandaged giants sitting there by themselves, staring at the space where they had gone off in. Things were silent for several seconds as the two simply sat together, until Brogy opened his mouth to speak.
"Our friends are about to set sail on the Eastern Sea." He said.
"We can't let them go by themselves with that monster out there." Dorry said.
"How's your wound, Dorry?" Brogy asked, rising to his feet and reaching for his axe.
"I'll live." Came the other giant's curt reply.
"My axe and your sword have had good lives." Brogy said, weighing the weapon up and down in his hands as if it were the first time he was wielding it.
"Have you any regrets?" Dorry said, mirroring Brogy's actions with his own blade. The nicks and scuffs which decorated the edges of the blade seemed so much more pronounced more than they had earlier in the day.
"Of course!" Brogy said, "This axe has been my partner in battle for over a hundred years. But if it's to help those people… It's well worth it!"
"Then it's settled." Dorry said. The two giants held their heads high and looked out- past where the Straw Hats and their ship were- towards the ocean near the island's eastern coast. Towards where the river would let out into the sea and the ship would leave them behind to continue on its own adventure.
It was probably a rhetorical question on Nami's part, as her surge of unyielding rage directed in Usopp's direction upon stepping aboard the deck of the ship made it quite difficult for the sniper to offer a genuine answer. He could only gulp before he was swallowed up in Nami's wrath.
"WE WERE ALMOST TURNED INTO WAX STATUES BY ANOTHER ASSASSIN! AND THEN ONE OF THE ONES FROM WHISKEY PEAK TRIED TO BLOW US UP! AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN HERE ON THE SHIP EVEN AFTER I GOT KIDNAPPED FROM RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE?!"
The throttling which Usopp was getting made it, still, quite difficult for him to explain himself to her, and so it was Sanji of all people who spoke up on Usopp's behalf.
"Nami-swan, he probably didn't know that anything was actually happening." Sanji said calmly, placing a hand on her shoulder to try and ease her frustrations, "He did charge ahead of both of us when returning to the ship, after all. Not to mention that it was Spruce who assured all of us that we wouldn't be in danger here."
"YEAH! HE DID!" Usopp piped up, his face swelling up all over from the abuse, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WERE ASSASSINS?!"
Nami let out a heavy sigh, and focused her attention on the bow of the ship, which seemed to be where Spinner had decided to plant himself. He had abandoned his namesake, and his nose was pointed forwards in roughly the same direction as the ship's figurehead, only he was tilted about twenty-seven degrees towards starboard. Seeing as Usopp was now spared from her wrath, Sanji busied himself loading up as much meat from Zoro and Spruce's respective quarries as the ship could carry. It was left to Vivi and Luffy to catch the sniper up on everything that he had missed.
"THE ALE EXPLODED?!" Usopp said.
"Mhm." Luffy said.
"AND THEN MR. 3 TRAPPED MASTER BROGY IN WAX WHILE HE WAS DISTRACTED WITH THEIR DUEL?!"
"That's right." Vivi said.
"AND HE WANTED TO TURN THEM BOTH IN FOR THEIR BOUNTIES?!"
"Quack." Carue quacked.
"IF WE WEREN'T ABOUT TO LEAVE AND YOU HADN'T ALREADY BEATEN THEM, I'D GO AND KILL THEM MYSELF!" Usopp raged.
"Maybe next time you should come on the adventure with me!" Luffy suggested. Usopp blanched.
"U-Uh… actually, I think that my 'I-can't-go-on-that-island-or-I'll-die-itis' would start acting up if I went with you." He said nervously, "Sorry."
"Dang." Luffy said.
"We're all ready here, Nami-swan!" Sanji informed Nami, and Luffy's head whipped over in his direction as Spruce, Ria and Zoro all came aboard together, having finished loading the ship with meat. Luffy stared at how much of the carcasses were being left behind on the island.
"Hey, can't we carry any more meat?" He said.
"That's all the ship can hold!" Sanji responded.
"Do you want to sink us?!" Usopp exclaimed.
With everything taken care of, they weighed anchor and set off down the river. As the ship neared the shore, it became apparent to all those on the deck that they wouldn't simply be passing on into the sea without any proper circumstance. Flanking the ship on both sides, standing at the very edge of where their enormous statures could find footing, were Dorry and Brogy. Weapons in hand, and cloaks fluttering majestically in the wind as the two looked out ahead at the ocean.
"It's the giants!" Luffy said.
"They came to see us off!" Usopp cheered.
The ship had just about reached the shore, and was about to continue on into the wider ocean, with an expanse of blue both above and below the horizon being all that laid in front of them for their eyes to see. Both giants stood with dignity and poise, their heads held high enough they could graze the heavens. As the Merry rolled on in pursuit of their next destination, they spoke.
"There's one big reason that you little people…" Brogy rumbled.
"…Can't reach the next island." Dorry finished.
"What?" Luffy said.
"You risked your lives to defend our honour." Dorry said.
"Now, no matter what…" Brogy said.
"…WE WILL ALLOW NO ENEMY TO TRAMPLE ON OUR FRIENDS' PRIDE!" Dorry declared.
"HAVE FAITH IN US, AND SAIL STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Brogy instructed, "NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, SAIL STRAIGHT AHEAD!"
"What are they talking about?" Zoro said.
"OKAY! WE'LL SAIL STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Luffy promised. The ship had passed them by now, and was leaving them in her wake.
"It's time to say goodbye." Dorry said, "I hope we meet again."
"Yes, I hope so too." Brogy added.
Frowning slightly at the threatening implications of the giants' words, Spruce looked out at the ocean. He and Ria closed their eyes together, and it didn't take long for them both to snap open to reveal matching expressions of surprise.
"Oh!" Spruce said, "Wow! Now that's something new, alright!"
"Riolu…" Ria said, slightly awestruck.
The others could hear what they were saying, but there was neither the time nor the need to ask for them to elaborate on what it was that they had sensed, as Nami's sudden exclamation cut through any uncertainty.
"LOOK!" She cried, pointing towards the sea, "UP AHEAD!"
And indeed, from where she was pointing, an unfathomably enormous mass of a living creature had begun to rise from the depths of the ocean. The sea swelled with its ascent, running down its body and obscuring all but the pale red fin running down its back, which just in itself was enough to dwarf the Going Merry several times over. Those on the ship reacted with panic and confusion, while the two giants on the shore watched the creature's appearance with recognition and readiness.
"There it is." Dorry said, "The Island Eater."
"You will give away." Brogy said, staring at the still-rising monster, "The honour of Elbaf is at stake!"
The ocean was whipped into a frenzy by the arrival of the sea-creature, its surface thrashing about with waves that threatened to throw those aboard the deck of the Merry overboard. Such harsh seas were paltry, however, compared to the menace of their cause. It was difficult with mere words to impress the sheer, absolute size of the fish, whose each and every tooth was as large as the ship was. Eyes that were blank with nothing but pure, animalistic instinct, focused in on the ship, while its mouth opened up wide, showing off the dark depths of its mouth to those aboard as an advance showing of where they would be ending up soon enough.
"AAAAAAH!" Usopp screamed, ducking down at the sight of the fish for all the good it could do, "S-SOMETHING MASSIVE CAME OUT OF THE SEA!"
"SEA MONSTER!" Nami cried.
"Wow! Look at those teeth!" Spruce gushed, "And those fins, too! Doesn't it look incredible, Ria?"
"Riolu!" Ria said incredulously.
For all her distress, Nami wasn't one to hesitate. Reacting swiftly, she looked over to where Usopp was half-standing and half-ducking, closer to the ship's wheel than anybody else currently was.
"TURN THE SHIP!" Nami ordered, "HURRY, OR WE'LL BE EATEN!"
The ship continued on its away, sailing straight ahead right towards the fish's open mouth. As they neared it, the fish opened its mouth wider so that its bottom lip was just submerged beneath the water, giving them clear access to cross the water and sail into the mouth directly.
"What is it…?" Usopp muttered, frozen in awe at the fish, "A ginormous… goldfish! I think I've heard of this before!"
"USOPP!" Nami bellowed, as Carue began to quack in distress, "TURN THE WHEEL!"
"I... I CAN'T!" Usopp said, "WE'RE GONNA SAIL STRAIGHT AHEAD! R-RIGHT, LUFFY?"
Both the navigator and the sniper looked to their captain, who looked as calm as a summer day. His eyes and smile were easy, downright relaxed even, and he gave Usopp a simple nod.
"Right." He said.
"DON'T BE INSANE!" Nami said, "THIS ISN'T LIKE LABOON!"
"I know." Luffy said, "Don't panic."
"OF COURSE I'M PANICKING!" Nami said, "WE HAVE TO TURN THE SHIP NOW OR WE'LL-!"
"Nami." Zoro interjected, leaning casually against the wall of the storeroom as he spoke, "Resign yourself."
"LUFFY!" Sanji said, "Are you sure we can trust those giants?!"
"Yep." Luffy said.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Vivi said, "ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO SAIL STRAIGHT INTO THAT MONSTER'S MOUTH?!"
There was no need for Luffy to answer that one, as Nami helpfully interrupted with a cry of "IT'S TOO LATE!" directing the attention of those onboard to the fact that they had since passed over the fish's bottom lip and sailed into its hungry mouth. And thus, the fish's mouth slammed shut around them, blanketing them all in total darkness.
"Huh. This feels like being in the dinosaur again." Spruce commented, amidst the terrified screaming (and quacking) which came from some of the other people around him.
"STRAIGHT AHEAD! STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Usopp roared, repeating it like a mantra to convince himself everything was alright.
"IT'S TOO LATE, WE'VE BEEN SWALLOWED UP!" Nami said.
"STRAIGHT AHEAD! STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Luffy said, in spite of their perilous situation.
From their vantage point, Dorry and Brogy watched the whole event transpire, without a trace of worry on their faces for the fates of their new little friends.
"Island Eater, you overgrown goldfish…" Dorry said.
"It's not just that he's huge, that monster eats whole islands!" Brogy said, "Not to mention the humungous poops he leaves in his wake!"
"Indeed. As big as islands!" Dorry said.
"Do you remember when we mistook one for an island and landed on it?" Brogy said.
"HOHOHO! How could I forget something like that?" Dorry said, as the Island Eater closed its mouth fully around the Going Merry, "Watching this takes me back to the good old days!"
Both giants raised their weapons and reared them back, axe and sword together. Muscles tensed so firmly that their own bandages ripped and some of their wounds reopened, not that either would allow an ounce of pain to show on their faces. Even the ocean and the sky themselves seemed to be trembling in anticipation of the attack which was about to come.
"The only thing which we cannot pierce is a snake soaked in blood." Dorry boasted.
"Behold! The legendary 'Spear of the Giants of Elbaf'!" Brogy added.
In unison, the two of them swung their weapons forwards. For a moment, it looked like the meagre winds which they hurled towards their target were useless, barely disturbing the choppy surface of the ocean as they blew towards their target. The Island Eater certainly didn't pay the two any attention, though that could be attributed just as much to its simpler mind as to doubting in the giants' abilities. The Straw Hats remained in its mouth, their ship falling in the direction of its stomach when-
"HAKOKU SOVEREIGNTY!"
The united assault from two of the greatest warriors Elbaf had to offer lived up to the expectations. Sea and sky both exploded as an unstoppable tempest of wind ripped through the Island Eater's body, carving a perfectly round hole through one end and right out the other- so large that Dorry or Brogy could have stepped through it themselves without issue- while the force of such an almighty blow blasted the ship inside the fish's mouth forwards through the newly made exit. The water below the Straw Hats raged, thrown into disarray by the attack, while the wind whipped at their faces and light bombarded their eyes and Luffy, through all of it, looked straight ahead with an ear-to-ear grin plastered across his face.
"YAHOO!" Luffy cheered, "WE'RE FLYING OUT! DON'T TURN! GO STRAIGHT AHEAD!"
"They blasted a whole right through it!" Usopp gasped, his eyes teary and scrunched shut, "That's the power of the warriors of Elbaf!"
The momentum carried them through the air for a few seconds more, before the ship finally crashed into the ocean below. Such a sudden landing threw mostly everyone onboard for a loop, losing their footing and being thrown around the deck. It was only Luffy who caught the distant yell of the giants as they said their final farewell, pointing the jagged and splintered ends of their broken weapons at them as they did so.
"MAY GOOD FORTUNE ACCOMPANY YOU!"
"It's such a relief to be putting that island behind us." Vivi commented, sitting across the deck from where Nami and Spinner were, "I can't imagine what I would have done if we were forced to remain there for even just a few days more."
"Don't get too relaxed." Nami cautioned her, plopping herself down nearby once she was satisfied with the ship's trajectory, "We've still got a slew of other islands to get through before we get to Alabasta, and we have no way of knowing for sure exactly how long those will all take us."
"I'm not forgetting that, don't worry." Vivi said, "But I'm reasonably confident that Little Garden will be an outlier in terms of both the amount of time which the Log Pose takes to reset, as well as the inherent threat of the island itself."
"Yeah, it'll just be the assassins that get more dangerous as the islands get safer." Nami grumbled, "We've still got 1 and 2 to deal with before we get to 0, don't we?"
"No need to worry!" Spruce chimed in, leaning against the taffrail as he spoke, and quite conspicuously not joined by Ria at the moment, "Even if the bad guys get stronger, you two are gonna be doing the same thing! Or, uh… Vivi is, at least. I guess you're kinda busy navigating the ship, Nami."
The suggestion actually gave Nami pause, prompting her to look down at Julius' shrunken Pokeball, and then back at Spruce.
"Well… being able to drive Zoro's debt up with more lifesaving fees does sound enticing." She mused, "Plus it would probably come in handy to be able to hold my own against some of the threats we'll face, I guess…"
"Is that really how you're prioritising both things?" Vivi muttered to herself.
"Well you're welcome to join in whenever you want!" Spruce assured her, his smile as bright as ever. He reached down to pluck a Pokeball from his belt and held it out over the sea. In a flood of white light, Whiskers burst out and materialised in the water, and wasted no time in diving down and beginning to swim around in the open ocean which surrounded them. As he returned the Pokeball to his belt, Spruce's body slumping against the taffrail, and his eyes unfocused slightly.
"Don't worry about any of the dangers which lie ahead, Vivi." Sanji said as he approached the two ladies, carrying a bowl of treats in his hand, "You have me! Petit four? They're my treat of the day, and there's a choice of coffee or tea."
He leaned over, offering the contents of the bowl for Nami and Vivi to indulge in. Before either of them had a chance to, however, one of Spruce's Pokeballs began shaking, and it burst open to release Pex. The bird flew over to perch himself on Usopp's head, as both him and Luffy had taken a break from their jollies to crowd around Sanji's dish. Together, the three of them salivated at the sight of such delectable treats.
"Yours is in the kitchen." Sanji told them, and they were off. Pex was the fastest, flying towards the kitchen so fast that he rammed head-first into the door and rebounded off, while Usopp and Luffy clambered towards the kitchen, taking the stairs and climbing up the wall of the storeroom respectively to get at their treats. Sanji, Vivi and Nami all shared a sweat-drop as they watched the trio of mouths at work. Spruce would have found some amusement in the spectacle for himself, if it weren't for a feeling of fatigue that had him slumping even further, practically on the verge of passing out.
His condition went unnoticed, even by his most trusted and valued partner, because Ria was preoccupied observing the motions of Zoro. She leaned over from above, concealed amongst the assortment of foliage which had joined Nami's tangerine grove in recent days, and watched as the swordsman waved around a metal bar laden which enormous weights. His every muscle was tensed, and sweat poured down his face and his bare chest, but he otherwise was able to swing the bar around like he would a sword, when no ordinary human would have had the slightest chance of even lifting it off the ground in the first place.
Such spectacle and such raw strength had Ria's eyes shining with a mixture of both admiration and burning ambition. She watched Zoro's movements with the tool in his hands- and for a brief second, the image of the green-haired swordsman disappeared, replaced by an image of a blue and black canine Pokémon with a metal spike protruding from his chest who wielded a bone-shaped weapon in a similar manner to a sword.
A memory. One which made her recall a crushing pain in her midsection that was as clear as it had ever been.
Then the memory passed, and Ria continued to watch Zoro train in the present moment. Though it had passed, however, the pain both physical and emotional still lingered, and so she began to idly practice her own attacks in time with him, punching and kicking at the air while trying not to make too much of a racket.
For his part, Zoro was either unaware of the fact he had an audience- or, more likely, simply didn't care- as he counted out reps and focused himself entirely on his training. Ria wasn't the only one thinking back to past failures, either.
"If I'd been able to cut through that candelabra myself, we never would have been delayed dealing with those assassins." Zoro said, "And if I hadn't let myself be fooled by that wax mannequin, I never even would have been caught in the first place. Got to get stronger. Got to get better. Strong enough… to shatter steel!"
The swordsman and the Pokémon continued training in unison, both bearing expressions of frustration that came from their own shame. But both of them suddenly stopped, just as the three gluttons in the kitchen stopped chowing down on their treats, and even Whiskers stopped swimming and poked his head out of the water, at the sound of Vivi's frantic and fearful scream echoing out across the entire ship.
"EVERYONE, COME QUICKLY! THIS IS BAD!"
"Huh? What's wrong, Vivi?" Luffy asked, emerging from the kitchen with his cheeks bulging. He was greeted with the sight of Vivi standing to the side of where Nami was currently kneeling beside Spruce, who had collapsed on the deck. Sweat drenched his body, and Nami looked deeply concerned as she drew her hand back from his forehead.
"It's Spruce." Nami explained, "He's burning up with a fever."
"Riolu…?" Ria mumbled, awkwardly poking Nami in the back. Her gaze remained locked on Spruce throughout, on his sweat-soaked form and his laboured breathing. Even as Nami shifted herself and Ria was left poking at nothing but air, she kept poking. Pex stood on the relaxing table in front of the couch, his entire body drawn into itself and his feathery tuft now hanging limply over his face.
"I don't understand." Nami said as she rose to her feet, "His symptoms set in so suddenly, and it hasn't even been that long since we left Little Garden- or Iron Island, for that matter."
"It's probably the climate." Vivi said, "One of the main dangers you face when you enter the Grand Line is sickness caused by extreme weather. Even the most notorious pirates on the sea can suddenly get sick and die, it's a common occurrence. A common cold can be enough to kill you if you're not careful."
"RAVIA?!" Pex screeched, whipping around to look at Vivi at the mention of death. The princess cringed.
"N-Not that I expect Spruce to die." She amended, "Nami here seems like she knows enough to take care of him. Right, Nami?"
"I'm probably the most knowledgeable about medicine out of everyone on the ship." Nami admitted, "But there's not much that I can do for him other than trying to keep him healthy and comfortable and let his body fix the problem itself."
"He just needs to eat some meat!" Luffy said confidently, "That'll cure him. Right, Sanji?"
"Lu?" Ria said, looking to Sanji for his answer.
The chef in question had a far less sunny outlook on Spruce's condition than Luffy did.
"I'll cook him up something he can eat." Sanji said, "That's basic care you'd give any sick person. But it won't necessarily make him well. Up until now, I've made sure that everyone had well-balanced meals with meat and vegetables. Nami and Vivi got the best ingredients I had on hand, and anything that was going bad got served to the rest of you."
"HEY!" Usopp protested.
"It tasted good anyway, though." Luffy chuckled.
"You should probably avoid trying to serve Spruce anything that's going off." Nami said, taking out a thermometer and sticking it in Spruce's mouth.
"Basic nutrition won't be a concern as long as I'm the cook here." Sanji continued, "However, there are all sorts of food that are good for dealing with different diseases. But I don't know what exactly he's got."
"Then feed him all of them." Luffy said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"That's a good way to make a healthy person sick." Sanji retorted.
"ONE-HUNDRED AND FOUR DEGREES?" Nami cried as she took the thermometer out and looked at its measure for herself. She looked somewhat panicked at the information.
"What?!" Vivi said, leaning over to check it for herself and quickly adopting a matching panicked look, "His fever's getting worse!"
"Whatever it is that's afflicting him, he needs to see a doctor." Nami said grimly, "Do you have any idea what the next island on the route will be, Vivi? Or how long it'll take to get there?"
"No, I don't." Vivi replied, "Travel time between islands can islands can vary greatly on the Grand Line. Since we're following a Log Pose route, we should be travelling to one of the nearest islands, but I can't be sure how long it'll take to get there."
"Staravia…" Pex murmured, looking in the direction of the ship's bow and envisioning the endless expanse of ocean which stood between them and their destination.
"Does it hurt to be sick?" Luffy asked.
"Dunno, never been sick." Usopp and Sanji said in unison.
"Are you people even human?!" Vivi said.
"Yes, it hurts to be sick." Nami deadpanned, "Especially with a fever this high. If something isn't done, he'll almost definitely die."
"RIOLU?!"
"STARAVIA?!"
"WHAAAAT?!"
"QUACK!"
Such a straightforward admission didn't do any favours for the dispositions of the others. Pex flapped his wings in a frenzy, flying around like a flying headless chicken and generally bumping into things, while Carue scrambled around and quacked in distress, and Luffy gaped at Nami with a horrified look on his face. Usopp and Sanji didn't take the information well either, but their reactions were far more restrained, simply grimacing and, in Sanji's case, crushing his cigarette between his lips.
In contrast to Pex's fervour, Ria's reaction upon hearing the news was to go entirely still. She froze in place, staring at where Spruce lay, and didn't even blink. Not once.
"CALM DOWN AND BE QUIET!" Nami roared, which managed to calm Carue and Luffy down somewhat, but in Pex's case she may as well have been yelling at a brick wall. He continued to fly about erratically, before seemingly homing in on the open hatch in the room's ceiling and flying through it into the open air above. Nami let out an exasperated sigh, and climbed up after him, with the guys all following her as well. Carue and Vivi were left by themselves with Spruce and Ria down below, just as the trainer's eyes slowly opened.
"Sorry…" Spruce mumbled, much to the other three's shock, "I don't think we'll be able to train after all… I'm not feeling too great right now…"
"Don't go apologising over something like that!" Vivi said, eyes fraught with worry, "Just focus on getting better so… so we can do that later, alright?"
"Alright…" Spruce said. From underneath the covers, his hand drifted over in order to seek out the top of Ria's head, which he stroked affectionately, "Sorry for worrying you… I hope I'm not causing too much trouble for everyone else…"
"Riolu…" Ria whispered. She reached up to grab hold of his hand, and clung to it tightly.
Zoro noted the annoying screeching that came from Pex as he burst out from the open hatch and shot over towards where Whiskers was beside the ship. He didn't pay them much mind, however, as he was instead focused on the specific cloud which he had previously decided was their point of reference for making sure that the ship remained on a straight course to the next island.
"Dos?" Whiskers sniffled, leaning over the side of the ship to reply to Pex, "Gyarados?"
"RAVIA!" Pex said, nodding his head up and down as he hovered in the air.
"GYARA!" Whiskers said. He dived back down into the water, and then emerged in front of the ship's bow. The two shared another nod, which seemed to be Pex's cue to start flying erratically around the mast and the sails. At the same time, Nami and the others who had been below deck with Spruce, save for Vivi and Carue, came climbing up after Pex.
"What's their problem?" Zoro said, jerking his head in the direction of the crazed bird. A mistake on his part, as it drew Nami's attention to the fact he was standing on the other end of the ship from where Spinner was.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Nami snapped, "YOU'RE MEANT TO BE- Forget it! Forget it. What's the bird doing?"
"I just asked you that." Zoro said.
What Pex was doing, was that he was flying about and seizing the ship's rigging. Undoing knots and grabbing lengths of rope in his talons, so that he could carry the ropes over to where Whiskers was and allow the serpent to grab onto them in his mouth and clamp down tightly. Nami's eyes narrowed, before widening as she cottoned on to what was about to happen.
"Is he about to-?!" She began, only for Whiskers to answer her question before it was asked. There was a sudden jerk as the ship lurched forwards, sending everyone stumbling, and began to cross the sea at a much faster pace than it had been previously. In front of them, Whiskers' eyes were narrowed with concentration, and the ropes in his mouth were all completely taut, as he swam with everything he had and dragged the ship along behind him.
"He's hauling the ship behind him! That's so cool!" Luffy cheered, pumping his fist as a gesture of encouragement.
"NO IT ISN'T!" Nami shouted.
"That damn fish is gonna tear the ship apart if he isn't careful." Sanji scowled.
Indeed, Whiskers' hauling of the ship was stressing it in parts that were better left unstressed. The ropes he tugged on had quickly begun to fray, and would likely tear within just a minute, while parts of the mast were also beginning to creak from the strain. He paid no mind to the havoc he wrought on the ship. Luffy looked around, noting the Merry's sounds of protest in particular, and his cheer quickly vanished.
"Shoot! That's not cool!" He said, "HEY, WHISKERS! STOP PULLING ON THE SHIP!"
"GIVE IT A REST YOU OVERGROWN FISH!" Sanji added.
"GYARADOS!" Whiskers bellowed through the ropes, as tears began to stream down his face from Sanji's insult.
"He must be concerned that we won't get to the next island quick enough." Usopp guessed.
"We won't get there at all if he destroys the mast like that." Nami said, "Zoro, cut through the ropes! Quickly!"
The swordsman nodded and rose to his feet, reaching down to the swords at his hip in order to draw a couple from their sheath- but he paused before leaping into action, because another yell joined the cacophony of voices on the deck.
"RIOLU!" Ria roared, hopping up through the hatch and sprinting over to stand on the figurehead and glare Whiskers down from across the water. As if she had uttered a magic word, Whiskers stopped. The ropes in his mouth went slack, and with merely a glare directed upwards, Ria prompted Pex to grab them and fly them back to the ship, allowing Sanji, Usopp and Luffy to get to work returning the rigging to normal. She glared at the two Pokémon for several seconds longer, before hopping down from and heading back in the direction of the men's quarters.
Before she headed back down, however, she paused, and turned back to say one last thing to the two.
"Riolu. Riolu, Riolu. Rio, Riolu. Lu, Lu, Lu." She said calmly, and then hopped down the hatch. Whiskers and Pex looked at each other, and then Whiskers dove back down beneath the water while Pex flew up to perch himself on top of the flagpole and stare out at what lay ahead.
The whole affair earned a raised eyebrow from Zoro, who sat himself back down where he was and slid his swords fully into their sheaths again. Unfortunately for him, Nami hadn't actually 'forgotten it', as she said.
"AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" She said, storming over to where he was, "YOU WERE MEANT TO BE WATCHING THE ROCK TO MAKE SURE WE STAYED ON COURSE!"
"The ship's going straight ahead." Zoro defended.
"According to what?!" She said, "You need to follow his nose!"
"No I don't. I just follow that big cloud up there." He said, pointing at the specific cloud.
"Don't you know that clouds move and change shape?!" She said, "Look at where Spinner is pointing! We're completely off course!"
Spinner was, at this point, now standing with his nose pointed towards starboard.
"Just forget it, I'll do it." Nami grumbled, and then suddenly perked up, "Hold on… something in the air is different."
"The air?" Zoro said, "It's been nice and sunny all day."
"EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!" Nami called out, getting the attention of the other three, "We're changing directions! Hoist the sails and catch the wind to port!"
"What's going on, Nami?" Sanji asked, "The sea's calm and the sky's clear."
"The wind. There's a big wind coming up ahead." Nami said, "Now hurry up and turn the ship!"
"AYE!" The three chorused in unison, all throwing themselves into their task. It would be just a little while later that they would witness an enormous cyclone appearing with no warning whatsoever, and they would realise that had they not changed course, they would have sailed directly into it. Once they were safely out of danger from the cyclone, they would correct their course and continue on their way.
By the time that the sun fell and rose again, the weather had changed completely from the clear and sunny climate which they had enjoyed since leaving Little Garden. A frigid air had come in its place, bringing with it a constant falling of snow which steadily piled up on the deck and forced everyone to layer up with coats and gloves. Everyone except for Luffy, who seemed somehow immune to the cold weather.
Cold weather wasn't the only new arrival there to greet the Straw Hats that day, either.
"There's someone standing on the water."
Standing on the water, just as Zoro said, was a funnily-dressed man wearing a mix of blue and green garments made to handle the cold weather that was all around him. His head was wrapped up, leaving only his face exposed, and his lips seemed to have an odd zigzagging shape to them. Upon his back was a large bow as well as a quiver of arrows.
As the Going Merry drew closer to where the bizarre man appeared to be standing on the surface of the ocean, Luffy and Usopp both stood at the bow in order to stare at him. Zoro also stared at him, but from further back on the ship. The man stared back at them. Small clouds of mist formed in front of everyone's faces from their breathing.
"Boy, sure is cold today." The man commented, finally speaking.
Luffy and Usopp looked at each other. They thought about what the man had just said.
"Yeah, sure is." Luffy agreed.
"Uh-huh." Usopp nodded, "It's cold alright."
"Really?" The man said.
The man stared at them. They stared at the man. Zoro also stared at the man, but the man didn't stare at him. Nobody said anything. Snow continued to fall all around them.
Then an enormous metal dome burst out of the sea from below where the man was standing. Or rather, an enormous ship burst out of the sea from below where he was standing, with the deck of the ship being contained within a metal dome which left only the top of the mast and furled sail exposed. The emerging ship dwarfed the Merry, and threw the surrounding waters into disarray with its sudden appearance.
They were rocked violently by the rough seas, forcing Luffy to grab onto the taffrail to keep himself steady while Usopp was thrown off his feet and fell back along the deck. Spinner began to slide back as well, but Luffy reached out to wrap his other hand around him and keep him in place. Those who were below the deck in the men's quarters also had to deal with the rocking of the ship, as was quickly evidenced by Nami's yell from below.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE?!"
Unfortunately, that wasn't a question that anybody on the deck could have given a good answer to, as they were themselves perplexed by the appearance of the larger ship.
"WHAT'S THAT?!" Luffy shouted, "A WATERMELON?!"
"That can't be a ship, can it?" Zoro said.
Like the peel of an orange being peeled back, the metal dome around the deck of the ship split apart and retracted back within the ship itself to reveal that which it had been concealing inside. A figurehead in the likeness of a hippopotamus wearing an ornate crown stared at the Straw Hats, while a Jolly Roger waved in the freezing winds above. The Jolly Roger bore a matching crown, and the lower half of the skull looked like an image of metal rather than of bone. More important than any figurehead or flag, however, were the dozens of men in green coats who could be seen standing on the deck of the ship, each one of them bearing a rifle in their hands.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Came a maniacal cackle, "WERE YOU SURPRISED BY BLIKING, MY GIANT SUBMERSIBLE ATTACK SHIP?!"
A boarding party surged from the so-called Bliking and stormed the deck of the Going Merry before the waters had even fully calmed, surrounding the scant few Straw Hats present and training the barrels of their weapons on them. Usopp, Luffy and Zoro were all surrounded in an instant, while Spinner was ignored.
"Damn it!" Usopp cursed, throwing his hands up in surrender without hesitation, "A pirate ship?!"
"We don't have time for this." Zoro grumbled, simply remaining as he was in spite of the threat.
Both Nami and Sanji came out to see what all the ruckus was about, with the former poking her head up through the hatch to the men's quarters, while the latter stepped out of the kitchen, and both of them immediately found themselves the target of a volley of rifles. Nami let out an exasperated sigh, while Sanji lit a new cigarette and took a long drag. Neither of them looked particularly concerned.
"What happened?" Sanji asked, speaking to Luffy as if all the men in coats weren't there.
"That ship attacked us." Luffy said.
"I thought it was something like that." Sanji said.
"I go to check on Spruce for five minutes and this is what we sail into…" Nami muttered, shaking her head disapprovingly.
With the gun-toting men in coats having seemingly taken control of the ship in that moment, a new individual joined them in crossing over from the Bliking onto the Merry. A man who resembled a teapot in many ways, being both short and stout, and having metal plating that both covered his jaw like a beard as well as wrapped around his chest like a tin jacket. He looked gruff and grumpy, with spiky purple hair. Strands of his hair poked out the sides beneath the hood of his white furred cloak, which was an actuality a fur rug draped over his shoulders and tied around his neck to suit the same purpose.
"Five of you…" 'Tin-Plate' Wapol said as he came aboard, carrying around a knife with a slab of meat hanging off it, "Can't be just the five of you."
He bit down on the slab of meat and tore a scrap away to gobble down, though it did little to satisfy his appetite. Opening his mouth up wide, he raised the knife into it and then chomped down, biting off not just the remaining meat but also the entirety of the blade as well, which he chewed up and swallowed as if it were the same as any other morsel of food.
"Never mind." Wapol said, "I've got a question."
"Who is that guy?" Luffy said, "He just ate that knife."
"My mouth hurts just watching him." Usopp added. He winced as Wapol went on to toss the handle of the blade into his mouth as well, like a tasty afterthought to the blade proper.
"We want to go to the Drum Kingdom." Wapol explained, "Do you have an Eternal Pose or a Log Pose?"
"Nope." Nami said, "And we've never heard of a place called the Drum Kingdom either."
"So if you're done, go away!" Luffy said.
"It's not good to rush through life." Wapol chastised, "If you don't have either of those things, we'll take your treasure and your ship instead."
"WHAT?!" Nami screeched, shooting up the rest of the way through the hatch and onto the deck, ignoring the armed men in favour of directing all her indignation towards Wapol herself, "LIKE HELL!"
Her anger didn't do much to deter Wapol, who seemed far more interested in the Merry itself. Unfortunately, his fixation on the ship meant that he failed to pay attention to the waters which surrounded them. Specifically, he failed to notice the large, crimson serpent which rose out of the sea and loomed over all those onboard with a very pissed-off look on his face.
The eyes of the pirates all quickly snapped over in Whiskers' direction, one after the other, as all of them save their captain took notice of his appearance. Eyes were widened, jaws were dropped, and many of them found the barrels of their rifles drifting downwards in the moment- until one among them was able to muster the nerve to put words to their situation.
"IT'S A SEA KING!" One of the pirates screamed, turning his weapon on Whiskers and wasting no time in pulling the trigger. The gunshot rang out over the deck, followed by a cacophony of additional shots as half the soldiers followed suit in opening fire on him.
"Huh? A Sea King?" Wapol said, pulling away from the Merry just before he had been about to dig in. He looked up to finally notice Whiskers right beside where he was on the ship, towering over him. The serpent twitched slightly with each gunshot which impacted uselessly against his scaly hide, and his enraged gaze only intensified with each shot fired. Nami seized her chance before the Bliking could take aim with anything more powerful than a mere rifle.
"THESE GUYS ARE TRYING TO STOP US FROM GETTING TO A DOCTOR!" Nami yelled, pointing specifically in Wapol's direction as she spoke. The pirates who weren't busy being terrified at the sight of the sea-serpent stared at Nami with mixed looks of shock and bafflement.
"Don't feel like eating Sea King today." Wapol huffed, and turned his attention back towards the ship he was on. He smacked his lips and opened his mouth up wide.
"GYARA…" Whiskers rumbled. He reared his head back and opened his mouth up wide as well. There was a sound like a geyser of water erupting that came from deeper within his throat, which served as a warning for all the Straw Hats to hit the deck as fast as they possibly could. A few of the pirates did the same, purely on instinct, while most of them, as well as their leader, remained standing right as Whiskers threw his head forwards and unleashed a mighty torrent of water.
"DOOOOOOOOOOS!"
The Brine attack hit Wapol first, at an almost point-blank range before he could take a bite of Merry. In an instant he was gone, blasted off the deck entirely and catapulted through the sky along the direction of the water and far out of view of anyone there. Whiskers tilted his head upwards as he focused his attack on Wapol, directing the attack's trajectory in the same direction and keeping it focused for about a second, before turning his attention towards all of Wapol's underlings.
With Wapol quite definitely out of the picture for the time being, Whiskers swept over the rest of the Merry with his Brine attack. The intensity lessened somewhat as he struck all the other pirates, not hurling them through the sky with quite as much force as was used on Wapol, but still blasting the lot of them off the deck and into the sea. Those of them standing near the bow of the ship screamed and tried to flee from the Whiskers' watery wrath. Some even jumped into the sea themselves, which only made the attack all the more effective. And with the Merry cleared out, Whiskers looked over to the Bliking, and was met with the sight of nothing but fear. Though not quite fear of him, exactly.
"THIS IS TERRIBLE!" The archer wailed, "CAPTAIN WAPOL'S BEEN BLASTED INTO SPACE BY THAT SEA MONSTER!"
"IT'S A CATASTROPHE!" Added a bearded man with an afro whose unique wardrobe suggested he was also someone important, "CAPTAIN WAPOL CAN'T SWIM!"
"THEN BEFORE HE SINKS AND DROWNS, WE GOTTA RESCUE HIM!" The archer said.
"REMEMBER US!" Afro man bellowed, pointing an accusatory finger at the Straw Hats as the Bliking made haste to sail away, "WE'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, JUST YOU WAIT!"
"REMEMBER US!"
"YOU REMEMBER THIS!"
"Dinner is served." He announced. Moving with a practiced grace, he laid the bowls down on the relaxing table, taking care to avoid Pex's feathers getting in their contents. Two bowls of Pokémon food which looked like they were interchangeable, as well as a warm bowl of soup laden which various chopped vegetables. He gave it a moment to watch for reactions, and then frowned as none of the three made any effort to start eating. It was to be expected from Spruce, but not as much so from the other two.
"Hey, bird." Sanji said, nudging Pex and gesturing towards his bowl, "Eat up."
"Ravia…" Pex mumbled, turning his beak away from the food. That certainly earned a raised eyebrow from Sanji.
"You go through all that effort to steal food when you're not meant to, and now you won't even take a bite of what I'm serving you?" He said.
"Star." Pex replied.
"What good does it do to not eat?" Sanji challenged, "Spruce is already sick enough as it is, we don't need anyone else making things harder by starving themselves. I can't even feed this to half the crew as leftovers if you don't eat it, either."
"Star… Ravia?" Pex said.
"Just because he can eat it, doesn't mean he should." Sanji retorted, "Now get eating, you glutton."
For a moment, it seemed like Pex had more words of refusal to offer Sanji's way. Those words died in his throat, though, as he simply looked over from Spruce to Sanji, and then to the bowl of food that was sitting next to him. It was quiet, but both Pokémon and chef could hear his stomach rumble, before he- with an astonishing reluctance- began nibbling at the food in his bowl.
One down, one to go.
Turning his attention to where Ria was meditating on the floor, Sanji stepped over towards her and gently prodded her with his foot. She remained in her trance despite his interruption. Or she just ignored him. Either way, she wasn't giving him anything, so he just sighed and turned back to Spruce in order to size him up. After a couple of seconds he reached for the bowl of soup he had prepared, only to freeze as Spruce's eyes blinked open and locked onto him.
"Sanji." Spruce murmured, his eyes somewhat bleary. He shifted around on the couch, sitting up and sluggishly turning his gaze over every corner of the room.
"Spruce." Sanji said cordially.
"Where's Vivi? And… Carue?" Spruce asked.
"She retired for the night." Sanji said.
"For the night? So it's late now?" Spruce said. His eyes flicked upwards towards the open hatch above, through which he could catch a glance of the black sky hanging above the ship.
"Late enough for dinner. Do you plan on eating yours?" Sanji said. He nodded his head in the direction of the bowl of soup, diverting Spruce's attention towards it.
"Um… I'm sorry, but I'm really not feeling that hungry." Spruce said. Such an admission left him unable to meet Sanji's gaze, instead staring shamefully at where his feet poked up from below the comforter.
"That's to be expected with a fever like that." Sanji said, flashing a reassuring smile in Spruce's direction, "Still, your body burns a lot of energy burning that hot. See if you can't manage a spoonful or two, and I'll be back in a bit to put away whatever you couldn't finish."
"Okay, I'll do that." Spruce nodded, before adding as the chef made to head back up onto the deck, "Sanji?"
"Hm?" Sanji said, glancing back.
"Can you tell… can you tell Luffy and Nami that I'm sorry?" Spruce said, "I heard all that ruckus happening with those guys that attacked us earlier… I was about as useful as an Ambipom singing jazz. I'm not a very good scout if I can't warn you about stuff like that, am I? And Nami even went up to check it out and ended up in danger too…"
"Spruce." Sanji said firmly, "Don't trip yourself up apologising for things that nobody's angry at you for. All that does is make the people around you feel even worse while you're in such a perilous condition."
"Oh…" Spruce said, "I'm sor… Um…"
He trailed off halfway through, and just looked around the room awkwardly as the silence hung in the air.
"If you really want to make up for it," Sanji said, mercifully breaking it, "then be ready for once you're better. We've got more islands between here and Alabasta, and more Baroque Works agents to deal with. We'll need you to be on the lookout for any threats we can't immediately see, and you'd better be ready to lay your life down to make sure Vivi stays safe. Got that?"
The casual order for sacrifice earned a look of uncertainty from Pex, who glanced between the chef and the trainer. Spruce himself didn't seem at all put off. A smile appeared across his reddened face instead.
"Sure." He promised, "You'll be able to count on me!"
"Good, that's the kind of attitude that befits a man." Sanji said, "Now try and eat up. That goes for the three of you."
With that parting instruction, Sanji climbed back up through the hatch and onto the deck. He closed it behind him, muffling the sounds of Nami issuing orders and the rest of the crew toiling away through the night. Spruce closed his eyes once again and relaxed himself into the couch. After a second, he sat up and shifted himself around, facing the table and leaning over it as he reached for the spoon in the bowl which Sanji had left for him.
"Staravia." Pex murmured, nibbling away at his own dinner while keeping a watchful eye on his trainer.
"Hey, you don't need to worry about me." Spruce said, "The others are gonna find the best doctor in the Grand Line when we get to that next island, you'll see. I'll be back in tip-top shape, and you can go back to trying to out-eat Luffy in no time."
Pex seemed convinced, and he began to dig into his food with slightly more enthusiasm, though his gaze constantly shifted between his food and Spruce. Spruce maintained a reassuring smile as he looked right back. Only when he raised the spoon up to his lips did he allow the smile to fade, with his eyes drifting over to the third occupant of the room. Still meditating. Still not eating.
'He's not the only one that I don't want to worry about me…'
So how about that Pokemon Presents, huh? Nice to see Kalos fans getting a bone tossed their way amidst all the shilling for mobile games. Hopefully the return of Mega Evolution means we'll get to see some new ones. Not sure if I'd be happy or annoyed about Mega Staraptor becoming a real thing. Probably annoyed. Having more Zygarde lore to play around with will be neat.
On an unrelated note, I just picked up Persona 3 Reload today and immediately sank seven hours into it. If this story disappears for about three months after I post this, don't be alarmed. That's why.
Brutal. Bullying. One-sided. A domination. A travesty. A beatdown. Hopeless.
Such descriptions were better kept brief and isolated, as if one were to give an in-depth description of how events played out, Spruce would be vilified beyond compare. If someone were to, say, regale an audience with tales of the Straw Hats' adventures and they happened to go into detail on the first battle between Spruce and Vivi, it would completely ruin any chance of that audience having an ounce of sympathy for him ever again as they would all be too busy wishing for his death.
Some people would argue that calling their clash a 'battle' in the first place would be inaccurate to the nature of what really happened. At no point did Vivi and Bonbon even possess a sliver of a fighting chance against Spruce and Ria. At no point did they have any modicum of control over the flow of the fight. At no point, even before the battle had started, was the outcome in question.
And at no point had Vivi or Bonbon worn an expression of anything other than joy on their faces, even after their defeat.
Had Dorry and Brogy watched the battle for themselves, they would have commended the duo on how honourably they fought against such an overwhelmingly superior opponent. Sadly for Vivi's pride, the two had been busy bandaging themselves up and tending to their various wounds, and the battle had concluded too quickly for them to get a chance to watch it.
As the two trainers stood on opposite ends of their impromptu battlefield, and Vivi returned the fainted Bonbon to her Pokeball, Spruce and Ria found themselves cringing together at what had just happened. Behind Vivi, Carue stood frozen with an agape bill. The Straw Hats who had spectated the battle all had varying reactions of their own, with Nami sharing the duo's cringe, while Luffy and Zoro were impassive, and Sanji looked like he was struggling to choose between comforting Vivi and attacking Spruce. Spinner had been too busy spinning to watch in the first place.
"I… kind of thought that Vivi would at least stand a slight chance…" Nami mumbled. Julius had since returned to his Pokeball, unable to even bear witness to the battle himself.
"How much of a chance do you think Vivi would stand in a swordfight if I was her opponent?" Zoro countered.
"That's a good point, actually." Nami admitted.
"Alright! We can get going now that that's done!" Luffy said, wasting no time in turning and heading off in the direction of the ship.
The smile on Vivi's lips remained constant as she looked down at Bonbon's Pokeball, and then shrunk it to its smaller size in order to slip it into her pocket. With a shake of his head, Carue's bill snapped shut and he stepped forwards to drape a comforting wing over Vivi's shoulder. The gesture earned him a look of appreciation from the princess.
It was actually Vivi who was the happier of the two trainers, as Spruce, while no longer cringing, didn't appear to have taken the slightest bit of satisfaction in his victory. Even Ria looked sullen. The two approached Vivi and Carue together, and Spruce extended a polite hand, which Vivi didn't hesitate to take and shake gratefully. Her disposition surprised Spruce somewhat.
"Um, good battle." He offered, "I… did try and tell you that I was a bit out of your league… and I did say that Julius was the only other Pokémon that Bonbon could train meaningfully with…"
"Quack." Carue quacked, turning his bill up at him.
"I think I understand now, just a little bit." Vivi said warmly.
"Lu?" Ria said.
"Those two giants were able to fight for a century, not because of how much they hated each other," Vivi continued, "but because of how little. They enjoyed doing battle with each other because there was no hate between them. And… that's what I felt just now, with the two of us, and Bonbon and Ria."
"Of course I don't hate you!" Spruce said, "You're way nicer than the people that I hate!"
"Riolu!" Ria nodded.
"And the same to you." Vivi giggled, "I could never, ever derive any enjoyment from a conflict that would end in death. But without that element of death, there was a part of me that actually… enjoyed our battle, in spite of everything. You challenged me, forced me to think, made me compete, like it was a game between us. Not to mention that Bonbon was probably having the best time since she boarded the ship."
At the sound of their conversation, Luffy stopped in his tracks and looked back to watch the exchange between the two.
"They're not done yet?" He said.
"Well, yeah. Battling is one of the most natural things for Pokémon." Spruce said, "Every Pokémon wants to battle and get stronger, even if only a little bit."
"So when I said that I had no interesting in battling whatsoever…?" Vivi said.
"That was your choice." Spruce replied, "Some trainers don't want to battle, and that's alright!"
"Well, still…" Vivi said, "I enjoyed battling you, and I didn't enjoy battling the Officer Agents, but I don't think I can pick and choose. If I had taken you up on your offer before and trained more with Bonbon, we might have stood a serious chance of winning in our first confrontation with them. And as much as I didn't enjoy it, there was still something… liberating about being able to stand my ground against the both of them, instead of being forced to stand on the sidelines and rely on the aid of pirates. Er… no offence."
She looked towards the rest of the Straw Hats as she added that last bit.
"That's just reasonable." Zoro shrugged.
"I don't care how you think of us as long as you hold up your end of the bargain." Nami added.
"A shoulder to cry on, or a gallant knight to avenge such unforgiveable treatment?" Sanji murmured, still stuck a few minutes in the past.
"That's great that you can feel like that." Spruce said, "That's what being a Pokémon trainer is all about! Getting stronger together so you can take hold of your destiny for yourself."
"So if getting stronger is something that's going to happen anyway, I'd like to be able to use that strength in the service of my country." Vivi said, "Baroque Works will send even stronger agents after us once they learn about what happened here. With all that said, Spruce... if your offer to train with you is still open, then I'd like to take you up on it."
Zoro raised an eyebrow and Luffy tilted his head at the request, while Nami spared a glance at Julius' own Pokeball with a contemplative look on her face.
"Sure! You don't even need to ask." Spruce said brightly, "We'd love to train with you. Wouldn't we, Ria?"
"Lu!" Ria said.
"I'd be grateful." Vivi said, "And now I think it's about time we were on our way."
"Huh? You finished your duel already?" Came the voice of Brogy, as he and Dorry made their way over to the group, now sporting numerous bandages for the wounds they had suffered.
"That certainly didn't take long." Dorry said. The two giants narrowed their eyes down at the two trainers, as well as at Ria standing at Spruce's feet. Brogy developed a particularly solemn look before he spoke again.
"I am sorry for your loss." He said to Vivi, "The small tree creature fought most admirably, with the vigour of a true warrior! You should be very proud as its master."
"Um… loss?" Vivi said, "I believe there's been some kind of misunderstanding here."
"I did not have a chance to see it fight myself, but I still echo Brogy's sentiments." Dorry nodded.
"What are they talking about?" Spruce said to Vivi, and then to the giants, "What are you two talking about?"
"I am I mistaken? Did you not challenge your companion here to a duel, fought with your special fighting beasts which you command?" Brogy asked.
"No! Not like what you're thinking!" Vivi said, waving her hands about somewhat frantically as if to fan away such a notion from the giants' minds.
"Pokémon battles aren't fought to the death!" Spruce added, "We just go until one side knocks the other out!"
"A simple knockout?" Dorry frowned, "That seems like an underwhelming end to a duel."
"Do they seriously make every fight a fight to the death?" Nami muttered.
"Indeed, Dorry! If those were the conditions of our duel, then I would have won earlier in the day!" Brogy said, "Can you imagine? And after a hundred years, too!"
"Well I guess that giants and Pokémon are just different like that." Spruce shrugged.
"Different or not, you little people still saved our lives." Brogy said, "And for that, you have our gratitude!"
"We'd completely forgotten there was a price on our heads!" Dorry said.
At the mention of the bounties which Baroque Works had sought to exchange the giants' heads for, Vivi's smile dropped slightly while her gaze drifted regretfully towards the ground.
"Those people only came to this island because of me…" She said.
"RIOLU!" Ria barked, waving an angry fist up at Vivi. The sudden yell snagged her attention, and the princess recoiled slightly from the aggressive gesture, though seemed to nonetheless understand what was trying to be said.
"Don't be silly." Spruce said, walking past Vivi and Carue and heading over in the direction that Luffy had started off in, with Ria walking alongside him.
At Spruce's approach, Luffy turned his attention to the two giants, and gave them both a wave.
"SEE YOU, GIANTS! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" Luffy said, "DON'T KILL EACH OTHER!"
And on that note, the rest of the crew all moved to follow their captain in the direction of the trees, leaving the two giants behind. As they did, Sanji walked over to Spruce and began discussing his and Ria's earlier kill with them, and where they could go retrieve it from. Vivi and Carue both hurried to catch up with the lot of them, with the former sparing a glance back at Brogy and Dorry as they departed.
"I hope you're able to save your kingdom!" Dorry called out.
"THANK YOU!" Vivi replied.
Finally, the Straw Hats and friends vanished into the trees and left the two bandaged giants sitting there by themselves, staring at the space where they had gone off in. Things were silent for several seconds as the two simply sat together, until Brogy opened his mouth to speak.
"Our friends are about to set sail on the Eastern Sea." He said.
"We can't let them go by themselves with that monster out there." Dorry said.
"How's your wound, Dorry?" Brogy asked, rising to his feet and reaching for his axe.
"I'll live." Came the other giant's curt reply.
"My axe and your sword have had good lives." Brogy said, weighing the weapon up and down in his hands as if it were the first time he was wielding it.
"Have you any regrets?" Dorry said, mirroring Brogy's actions with his own blade. The nicks and scuffs which decorated the edges of the blade seemed so much more pronounced more than they had earlier in the day.
"Of course!" Brogy said, "This axe has been my partner in battle for over a hundred years. But if it's to help those people… It's well worth it!"
"Then it's settled." Dorry said. The two giants held their heads high and looked out- past where the Straw Hats and their ship were- towards the ocean near the island's eastern coast. Towards where the river would let out into the sea and the ship would leave them behind to continue on its own adventure.
-O-
"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE TIME?!"
It was probably a rhetorical question on Nami's part, as her surge of unyielding rage directed in Usopp's direction upon stepping aboard the deck of the ship made it quite difficult for the sniper to offer a genuine answer. He could only gulp before he was swallowed up in Nami's wrath.
"WE WERE ALMOST TURNED INTO WAX STATUES BY ANOTHER ASSASSIN! AND THEN ONE OF THE ONES FROM WHISKEY PEAK TRIED TO BLOW US UP! AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN HERE ON THE SHIP EVEN AFTER I GOT KIDNAPPED FROM RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE?!"
The throttling which Usopp was getting made it, still, quite difficult for him to explain himself to her, and so it was Sanji of all people who spoke up on Usopp's behalf.
"Nami-swan, he probably didn't know that anything was actually happening." Sanji said calmly, placing a hand on her shoulder to try and ease her frustrations, "He did charge ahead of both of us when returning to the ship, after all. Not to mention that it was Spruce who assured all of us that we wouldn't be in danger here."
"YEAH! HE DID!" Usopp piped up, his face swelling up all over from the abuse, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WERE ASSASSINS?!"
Nami let out a heavy sigh, and focused her attention on the bow of the ship, which seemed to be where Spinner had decided to plant himself. He had abandoned his namesake, and his nose was pointed forwards in roughly the same direction as the ship's figurehead, only he was tilted about twenty-seven degrees towards starboard. Seeing as Usopp was now spared from her wrath, Sanji busied himself loading up as much meat from Zoro and Spruce's respective quarries as the ship could carry. It was left to Vivi and Luffy to catch the sniper up on everything that he had missed.
"THE ALE EXPLODED?!" Usopp said.
"Mhm." Luffy said.
"AND THEN MR. 3 TRAPPED MASTER BROGY IN WAX WHILE HE WAS DISTRACTED WITH THEIR DUEL?!"
"That's right." Vivi said.
"AND HE WANTED TO TURN THEM BOTH IN FOR THEIR BOUNTIES?!"
"Quack." Carue quacked.
"IF WE WEREN'T ABOUT TO LEAVE AND YOU HADN'T ALREADY BEATEN THEM, I'D GO AND KILL THEM MYSELF!" Usopp raged.
"Maybe next time you should come on the adventure with me!" Luffy suggested. Usopp blanched.
"U-Uh… actually, I think that my 'I-can't-go-on-that-island-or-I'll-die-itis' would start acting up if I went with you." He said nervously, "Sorry."
"Dang." Luffy said.
"We're all ready here, Nami-swan!" Sanji informed Nami, and Luffy's head whipped over in his direction as Spruce, Ria and Zoro all came aboard together, having finished loading the ship with meat. Luffy stared at how much of the carcasses were being left behind on the island.
"Hey, can't we carry any more meat?" He said.
"That's all the ship can hold!" Sanji responded.
"Do you want to sink us?!" Usopp exclaimed.
With everything taken care of, they weighed anchor and set off down the river. As the ship neared the shore, it became apparent to all those on the deck that they wouldn't simply be passing on into the sea without any proper circumstance. Flanking the ship on both sides, standing at the very edge of where their enormous statures could find footing, were Dorry and Brogy. Weapons in hand, and cloaks fluttering majestically in the wind as the two looked out ahead at the ocean.
"It's the giants!" Luffy said.
"They came to see us off!" Usopp cheered.
The ship had just about reached the shore, and was about to continue on into the wider ocean, with an expanse of blue both above and below the horizon being all that laid in front of them for their eyes to see. Both giants stood with dignity and poise, their heads held high enough they could graze the heavens. As the Merry rolled on in pursuit of their next destination, they spoke.
"There's one big reason that you little people…" Brogy rumbled.
"…Can't reach the next island." Dorry finished.
"What?" Luffy said.
"You risked your lives to defend our honour." Dorry said.
"Now, no matter what…" Brogy said.
"…WE WILL ALLOW NO ENEMY TO TRAMPLE ON OUR FRIENDS' PRIDE!" Dorry declared.
"HAVE FAITH IN US, AND SAIL STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Brogy instructed, "NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, SAIL STRAIGHT AHEAD!"
"What are they talking about?" Zoro said.
"OKAY! WE'LL SAIL STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Luffy promised. The ship had passed them by now, and was leaving them in her wake.
"It's time to say goodbye." Dorry said, "I hope we meet again."
"Yes, I hope so too." Brogy added.
Frowning slightly at the threatening implications of the giants' words, Spruce looked out at the ocean. He and Ria closed their eyes together, and it didn't take long for them both to snap open to reveal matching expressions of surprise.
"Oh!" Spruce said, "Wow! Now that's something new, alright!"
"Riolu…" Ria said, slightly awestruck.
The others could hear what they were saying, but there was neither the time nor the need to ask for them to elaborate on what it was that they had sensed, as Nami's sudden exclamation cut through any uncertainty.
"LOOK!" She cried, pointing towards the sea, "UP AHEAD!"
And indeed, from where she was pointing, an unfathomably enormous mass of a living creature had begun to rise from the depths of the ocean. The sea swelled with its ascent, running down its body and obscuring all but the pale red fin running down its back, which just in itself was enough to dwarf the Going Merry several times over. Those on the ship reacted with panic and confusion, while the two giants on the shore watched the creature's appearance with recognition and readiness.
"There it is." Dorry said, "The Island Eater."
"You will give away." Brogy said, staring at the still-rising monster, "The honour of Elbaf is at stake!"
The ocean was whipped into a frenzy by the arrival of the sea-creature, its surface thrashing about with waves that threatened to throw those aboard the deck of the Merry overboard. Such harsh seas were paltry, however, compared to the menace of their cause. It was difficult with mere words to impress the sheer, absolute size of the fish, whose each and every tooth was as large as the ship was. Eyes that were blank with nothing but pure, animalistic instinct, focused in on the ship, while its mouth opened up wide, showing off the dark depths of its mouth to those aboard as an advance showing of where they would be ending up soon enough.
"AAAAAAH!" Usopp screamed, ducking down at the sight of the fish for all the good it could do, "S-SOMETHING MASSIVE CAME OUT OF THE SEA!"
"SEA MONSTER!" Nami cried.
"Wow! Look at those teeth!" Spruce gushed, "And those fins, too! Doesn't it look incredible, Ria?"
"Riolu!" Ria said incredulously.
For all her distress, Nami wasn't one to hesitate. Reacting swiftly, she looked over to where Usopp was half-standing and half-ducking, closer to the ship's wheel than anybody else currently was.
"TURN THE SHIP!" Nami ordered, "HURRY, OR WE'LL BE EATEN!"
The ship continued on its away, sailing straight ahead right towards the fish's open mouth. As they neared it, the fish opened its mouth wider so that its bottom lip was just submerged beneath the water, giving them clear access to cross the water and sail into the mouth directly.
"What is it…?" Usopp muttered, frozen in awe at the fish, "A ginormous… goldfish! I think I've heard of this before!"
"USOPP!" Nami bellowed, as Carue began to quack in distress, "TURN THE WHEEL!"
"I... I CAN'T!" Usopp said, "WE'RE GONNA SAIL STRAIGHT AHEAD! R-RIGHT, LUFFY?"
Both the navigator and the sniper looked to their captain, who looked as calm as a summer day. His eyes and smile were easy, downright relaxed even, and he gave Usopp a simple nod.
"Right." He said.
"DON'T BE INSANE!" Nami said, "THIS ISN'T LIKE LABOON!"
"I know." Luffy said, "Don't panic."
"OF COURSE I'M PANICKING!" Nami said, "WE HAVE TO TURN THE SHIP NOW OR WE'LL-!"
"Nami." Zoro interjected, leaning casually against the wall of the storeroom as he spoke, "Resign yourself."
"LUFFY!" Sanji said, "Are you sure we can trust those giants?!"
"Yep." Luffy said.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Vivi said, "ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO SAIL STRAIGHT INTO THAT MONSTER'S MOUTH?!"
There was no need for Luffy to answer that one, as Nami helpfully interrupted with a cry of "IT'S TOO LATE!" directing the attention of those onboard to the fact that they had since passed over the fish's bottom lip and sailed into its hungry mouth. And thus, the fish's mouth slammed shut around them, blanketing them all in total darkness.
"Huh. This feels like being in the dinosaur again." Spruce commented, amidst the terrified screaming (and quacking) which came from some of the other people around him.
"STRAIGHT AHEAD! STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Usopp roared, repeating it like a mantra to convince himself everything was alright.
"IT'S TOO LATE, WE'VE BEEN SWALLOWED UP!" Nami said.
"STRAIGHT AHEAD! STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Luffy said, in spite of their perilous situation.
From their vantage point, Dorry and Brogy watched the whole event transpire, without a trace of worry on their faces for the fates of their new little friends.
"Island Eater, you overgrown goldfish…" Dorry said.
"It's not just that he's huge, that monster eats whole islands!" Brogy said, "Not to mention the humungous poops he leaves in his wake!"
"Indeed. As big as islands!" Dorry said.
"Do you remember when we mistook one for an island and landed on it?" Brogy said.
"HOHOHO! How could I forget something like that?" Dorry said, as the Island Eater closed its mouth fully around the Going Merry, "Watching this takes me back to the good old days!"
Both giants raised their weapons and reared them back, axe and sword together. Muscles tensed so firmly that their own bandages ripped and some of their wounds reopened, not that either would allow an ounce of pain to show on their faces. Even the ocean and the sky themselves seemed to be trembling in anticipation of the attack which was about to come.
"The only thing which we cannot pierce is a snake soaked in blood." Dorry boasted.
"Behold! The legendary 'Spear of the Giants of Elbaf'!" Brogy added.
In unison, the two of them swung their weapons forwards. For a moment, it looked like the meagre winds which they hurled towards their target were useless, barely disturbing the choppy surface of the ocean as they blew towards their target. The Island Eater certainly didn't pay the two any attention, though that could be attributed just as much to its simpler mind as to doubting in the giants' abilities. The Straw Hats remained in its mouth, their ship falling in the direction of its stomach when-
"HAKOKU SOVEREIGNTY!"
The united assault from two of the greatest warriors Elbaf had to offer lived up to the expectations. Sea and sky both exploded as an unstoppable tempest of wind ripped through the Island Eater's body, carving a perfectly round hole through one end and right out the other- so large that Dorry or Brogy could have stepped through it themselves without issue- while the force of such an almighty blow blasted the ship inside the fish's mouth forwards through the newly made exit. The water below the Straw Hats raged, thrown into disarray by the attack, while the wind whipped at their faces and light bombarded their eyes and Luffy, through all of it, looked straight ahead with an ear-to-ear grin plastered across his face.
"YAHOO!" Luffy cheered, "WE'RE FLYING OUT! DON'T TURN! GO STRAIGHT AHEAD!"
"They blasted a whole right through it!" Usopp gasped, his eyes teary and scrunched shut, "That's the power of the warriors of Elbaf!"
The momentum carried them through the air for a few seconds more, before the ship finally crashed into the ocean below. Such a sudden landing threw mostly everyone onboard for a loop, losing their footing and being thrown around the deck. It was only Luffy who caught the distant yell of the giants as they said their final farewell, pointing the jagged and splintered ends of their broken weapons at them as they did so.
"MAY GOOD FORTUNE ACCOMPANY YOU!"
-O-
After their escape from such a gruesome fate as to become goldfish poop, the Straw Hats seemed to be on something of a high. In particular, Usopp and Luffy had their arms thrown over each other's shoulders as they danced and sang together about the illustrious Elbaf, home of the giants, which they would certainly one day visit for themselves. Nami spared the two of them an amused glance as she focused on Spinner, still in his self-designated spot on the deck, and checked that the ship was sailing in the right direction according to where his nose was pointing.
"It's such a relief to be putting that island behind us." Vivi commented, sitting across the deck from where Nami and Spinner were, "I can't imagine what I would have done if we were forced to remain there for even just a few days more."
"Don't get too relaxed." Nami cautioned her, plopping herself down nearby once she was satisfied with the ship's trajectory, "We've still got a slew of other islands to get through before we get to Alabasta, and we have no way of knowing for sure exactly how long those will all take us."
"I'm not forgetting that, don't worry." Vivi said, "But I'm reasonably confident that Little Garden will be an outlier in terms of both the amount of time which the Log Pose takes to reset, as well as the inherent threat of the island itself."
"Yeah, it'll just be the assassins that get more dangerous as the islands get safer." Nami grumbled, "We've still got 1 and 2 to deal with before we get to 0, don't we?"
"No need to worry!" Spruce chimed in, leaning against the taffrail as he spoke, and quite conspicuously not joined by Ria at the moment, "Even if the bad guys get stronger, you two are gonna be doing the same thing! Or, uh… Vivi is, at least. I guess you're kinda busy navigating the ship, Nami."
The suggestion actually gave Nami pause, prompting her to look down at Julius' shrunken Pokeball, and then back at Spruce.
"Well… being able to drive Zoro's debt up with more lifesaving fees does sound enticing." She mused, "Plus it would probably come in handy to be able to hold my own against some of the threats we'll face, I guess…"
"Is that really how you're prioritising both things?" Vivi muttered to herself.
"Well you're welcome to join in whenever you want!" Spruce assured her, his smile as bright as ever. He reached down to pluck a Pokeball from his belt and held it out over the sea. In a flood of white light, Whiskers burst out and materialised in the water, and wasted no time in diving down and beginning to swim around in the open ocean which surrounded them. As he returned the Pokeball to his belt, Spruce's body slumping against the taffrail, and his eyes unfocused slightly.
"Don't worry about any of the dangers which lie ahead, Vivi." Sanji said as he approached the two ladies, carrying a bowl of treats in his hand, "You have me! Petit four? They're my treat of the day, and there's a choice of coffee or tea."
He leaned over, offering the contents of the bowl for Nami and Vivi to indulge in. Before either of them had a chance to, however, one of Spruce's Pokeballs began shaking, and it burst open to release Pex. The bird flew over to perch himself on Usopp's head, as both him and Luffy had taken a break from their jollies to crowd around Sanji's dish. Together, the three of them salivated at the sight of such delectable treats.
"Yours is in the kitchen." Sanji told them, and they were off. Pex was the fastest, flying towards the kitchen so fast that he rammed head-first into the door and rebounded off, while Usopp and Luffy clambered towards the kitchen, taking the stairs and climbing up the wall of the storeroom respectively to get at their treats. Sanji, Vivi and Nami all shared a sweat-drop as they watched the trio of mouths at work. Spruce would have found some amusement in the spectacle for himself, if it weren't for a feeling of fatigue that had him slumping even further, practically on the verge of passing out.
His condition went unnoticed, even by his most trusted and valued partner, because Ria was preoccupied observing the motions of Zoro. She leaned over from above, concealed amongst the assortment of foliage which had joined Nami's tangerine grove in recent days, and watched as the swordsman waved around a metal bar laden which enormous weights. His every muscle was tensed, and sweat poured down his face and his bare chest, but he otherwise was able to swing the bar around like he would a sword, when no ordinary human would have had the slightest chance of even lifting it off the ground in the first place.
Such spectacle and such raw strength had Ria's eyes shining with a mixture of both admiration and burning ambition. She watched Zoro's movements with the tool in his hands- and for a brief second, the image of the green-haired swordsman disappeared, replaced by an image of a blue and black canine Pokémon with a metal spike protruding from his chest who wielded a bone-shaped weapon in a similar manner to a sword.
A memory. One which made her recall a crushing pain in her midsection that was as clear as it had ever been.
Then the memory passed, and Ria continued to watch Zoro train in the present moment. Though it had passed, however, the pain both physical and emotional still lingered, and so she began to idly practice her own attacks in time with him, punching and kicking at the air while trying not to make too much of a racket.
For his part, Zoro was either unaware of the fact he had an audience- or, more likely, simply didn't care- as he counted out reps and focused himself entirely on his training. Ria wasn't the only one thinking back to past failures, either.
"If I'd been able to cut through that candelabra myself, we never would have been delayed dealing with those assassins." Zoro said, "And if I hadn't let myself be fooled by that wax mannequin, I never even would have been caught in the first place. Got to get stronger. Got to get better. Strong enough… to shatter steel!"
The swordsman and the Pokémon continued training in unison, both bearing expressions of frustration that came from their own shame. But both of them suddenly stopped, just as the three gluttons in the kitchen stopped chowing down on their treats, and even Whiskers stopped swimming and poked his head out of the water, at the sound of Vivi's frantic and fearful scream echoing out across the entire ship.
"EVERYONE, COME QUICKLY! THIS IS BAD!"
"Huh? What's wrong, Vivi?" Luffy asked, emerging from the kitchen with his cheeks bulging. He was greeted with the sight of Vivi standing to the side of where Nami was currently kneeling beside Spruce, who had collapsed on the deck. Sweat drenched his body, and Nami looked deeply concerned as she drew her hand back from his forehead.
"It's Spruce." Nami explained, "He's burning up with a fever."
-O-
The crew had gathered in the men's quarters, with everyone save for Zoro and Spinner all crowding around the couch which Spruce had been laid out on. The absent two remained on the deck, with Zoro watching over the Pokémon to ensure that they remained on course. Most of those present stood off to the side from where Nami did her best to tend to Spruce, applying a damp washcloth to his forehead and adjusting the covers and pillow which had been moved to the couch to help keep him comfortable as he rested. There was a general uncertainty hanging in the air.
"Riolu…?" Ria mumbled, awkwardly poking Nami in the back. Her gaze remained locked on Spruce throughout, on his sweat-soaked form and his laboured breathing. Even as Nami shifted herself and Ria was left poking at nothing but air, she kept poking. Pex stood on the relaxing table in front of the couch, his entire body drawn into itself and his feathery tuft now hanging limply over his face.
"I don't understand." Nami said as she rose to her feet, "His symptoms set in so suddenly, and it hasn't even been that long since we left Little Garden- or Iron Island, for that matter."
"It's probably the climate." Vivi said, "One of the main dangers you face when you enter the Grand Line is sickness caused by extreme weather. Even the most notorious pirates on the sea can suddenly get sick and die, it's a common occurrence. A common cold can be enough to kill you if you're not careful."
"RAVIA?!" Pex screeched, whipping around to look at Vivi at the mention of death. The princess cringed.
"N-Not that I expect Spruce to die." She amended, "Nami here seems like she knows enough to take care of him. Right, Nami?"
"I'm probably the most knowledgeable about medicine out of everyone on the ship." Nami admitted, "But there's not much that I can do for him other than trying to keep him healthy and comfortable and let his body fix the problem itself."
"He just needs to eat some meat!" Luffy said confidently, "That'll cure him. Right, Sanji?"
"Lu?" Ria said, looking to Sanji for his answer.
The chef in question had a far less sunny outlook on Spruce's condition than Luffy did.
"I'll cook him up something he can eat." Sanji said, "That's basic care you'd give any sick person. But it won't necessarily make him well. Up until now, I've made sure that everyone had well-balanced meals with meat and vegetables. Nami and Vivi got the best ingredients I had on hand, and anything that was going bad got served to the rest of you."
"HEY!" Usopp protested.
"It tasted good anyway, though." Luffy chuckled.
"You should probably avoid trying to serve Spruce anything that's going off." Nami said, taking out a thermometer and sticking it in Spruce's mouth.
"Basic nutrition won't be a concern as long as I'm the cook here." Sanji continued, "However, there are all sorts of food that are good for dealing with different diseases. But I don't know what exactly he's got."
"Then feed him all of them." Luffy said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"That's a good way to make a healthy person sick." Sanji retorted.
"ONE-HUNDRED AND FOUR DEGREES?" Nami cried as she took the thermometer out and looked at its measure for herself. She looked somewhat panicked at the information.
"What?!" Vivi said, leaning over to check it for herself and quickly adopting a matching panicked look, "His fever's getting worse!"
"Whatever it is that's afflicting him, he needs to see a doctor." Nami said grimly, "Do you have any idea what the next island on the route will be, Vivi? Or how long it'll take to get there?"
"No, I don't." Vivi replied, "Travel time between islands can islands can vary greatly on the Grand Line. Since we're following a Log Pose route, we should be travelling to one of the nearest islands, but I can't be sure how long it'll take to get there."
"Staravia…" Pex murmured, looking in the direction of the ship's bow and envisioning the endless expanse of ocean which stood between them and their destination.
"Does it hurt to be sick?" Luffy asked.
"Dunno, never been sick." Usopp and Sanji said in unison.
"Are you people even human?!" Vivi said.
"Yes, it hurts to be sick." Nami deadpanned, "Especially with a fever this high. If something isn't done, he'll almost definitely die."
"RIOLU?!"
"STARAVIA?!"
"WHAAAAT?!"
"QUACK!"
Such a straightforward admission didn't do any favours for the dispositions of the others. Pex flapped his wings in a frenzy, flying around like a flying headless chicken and generally bumping into things, while Carue scrambled around and quacked in distress, and Luffy gaped at Nami with a horrified look on his face. Usopp and Sanji didn't take the information well either, but their reactions were far more restrained, simply grimacing and, in Sanji's case, crushing his cigarette between his lips.
In contrast to Pex's fervour, Ria's reaction upon hearing the news was to go entirely still. She froze in place, staring at where Spruce lay, and didn't even blink. Not once.
"CALM DOWN AND BE QUIET!" Nami roared, which managed to calm Carue and Luffy down somewhat, but in Pex's case she may as well have been yelling at a brick wall. He continued to fly about erratically, before seemingly homing in on the open hatch in the room's ceiling and flying through it into the open air above. Nami let out an exasperated sigh, and climbed up after him, with the guys all following her as well. Carue and Vivi were left by themselves with Spruce and Ria down below, just as the trainer's eyes slowly opened.
"Sorry…" Spruce mumbled, much to the other three's shock, "I don't think we'll be able to train after all… I'm not feeling too great right now…"
"Don't go apologising over something like that!" Vivi said, eyes fraught with worry, "Just focus on getting better so… so we can do that later, alright?"
"Alright…" Spruce said. From underneath the covers, his hand drifted over in order to seek out the top of Ria's head, which he stroked affectionately, "Sorry for worrying you… I hope I'm not causing too much trouble for everyone else…"
"Riolu…" Ria whispered. She reached up to grab hold of his hand, and clung to it tightly.
-O-
"STARAVIA! STARAVIA, STARAVIA! STAR! RAVIA-RAVIA!"
Zoro noted the annoying screeching that came from Pex as he burst out from the open hatch and shot over towards where Whiskers was beside the ship. He didn't pay them much mind, however, as he was instead focused on the specific cloud which he had previously decided was their point of reference for making sure that the ship remained on a straight course to the next island.
"Dos?" Whiskers sniffled, leaning over the side of the ship to reply to Pex, "Gyarados?"
"RAVIA!" Pex said, nodding his head up and down as he hovered in the air.
"GYARA!" Whiskers said. He dived back down into the water, and then emerged in front of the ship's bow. The two shared another nod, which seemed to be Pex's cue to start flying erratically around the mast and the sails. At the same time, Nami and the others who had been below deck with Spruce, save for Vivi and Carue, came climbing up after Pex.
"What's their problem?" Zoro said, jerking his head in the direction of the crazed bird. A mistake on his part, as it drew Nami's attention to the fact he was standing on the other end of the ship from where Spinner was.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Nami snapped, "YOU'RE MEANT TO BE- Forget it! Forget it. What's the bird doing?"
"I just asked you that." Zoro said.
What Pex was doing, was that he was flying about and seizing the ship's rigging. Undoing knots and grabbing lengths of rope in his talons, so that he could carry the ropes over to where Whiskers was and allow the serpent to grab onto them in his mouth and clamp down tightly. Nami's eyes narrowed, before widening as she cottoned on to what was about to happen.
"Is he about to-?!" She began, only for Whiskers to answer her question before it was asked. There was a sudden jerk as the ship lurched forwards, sending everyone stumbling, and began to cross the sea at a much faster pace than it had been previously. In front of them, Whiskers' eyes were narrowed with concentration, and the ropes in his mouth were all completely taut, as he swam with everything he had and dragged the ship along behind him.
"He's hauling the ship behind him! That's so cool!" Luffy cheered, pumping his fist as a gesture of encouragement.
"NO IT ISN'T!" Nami shouted.
"That damn fish is gonna tear the ship apart if he isn't careful." Sanji scowled.
Indeed, Whiskers' hauling of the ship was stressing it in parts that were better left unstressed. The ropes he tugged on had quickly begun to fray, and would likely tear within just a minute, while parts of the mast were also beginning to creak from the strain. He paid no mind to the havoc he wrought on the ship. Luffy looked around, noting the Merry's sounds of protest in particular, and his cheer quickly vanished.
"Shoot! That's not cool!" He said, "HEY, WHISKERS! STOP PULLING ON THE SHIP!"
"GIVE IT A REST YOU OVERGROWN FISH!" Sanji added.
"GYARADOS!" Whiskers bellowed through the ropes, as tears began to stream down his face from Sanji's insult.
"He must be concerned that we won't get to the next island quick enough." Usopp guessed.
"We won't get there at all if he destroys the mast like that." Nami said, "Zoro, cut through the ropes! Quickly!"
The swordsman nodded and rose to his feet, reaching down to the swords at his hip in order to draw a couple from their sheath- but he paused before leaping into action, because another yell joined the cacophony of voices on the deck.
"RIOLU!" Ria roared, hopping up through the hatch and sprinting over to stand on the figurehead and glare Whiskers down from across the water. As if she had uttered a magic word, Whiskers stopped. The ropes in his mouth went slack, and with merely a glare directed upwards, Ria prompted Pex to grab them and fly them back to the ship, allowing Sanji, Usopp and Luffy to get to work returning the rigging to normal. She glared at the two Pokémon for several seconds longer, before hopping down from and heading back in the direction of the men's quarters.
Before she headed back down, however, she paused, and turned back to say one last thing to the two.
"Riolu. Riolu, Riolu. Rio, Riolu. Lu, Lu, Lu." She said calmly, and then hopped down the hatch. Whiskers and Pex looked at each other, and then Whiskers dove back down beneath the water while Pex flew up to perch himself on top of the flagpole and stare out at what lay ahead.
The whole affair earned a raised eyebrow from Zoro, who sat himself back down where he was and slid his swords fully into their sheaths again. Unfortunately for him, Nami hadn't actually 'forgotten it', as she said.
"AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" She said, storming over to where he was, "YOU WERE MEANT TO BE WATCHING THE ROCK TO MAKE SURE WE STAYED ON COURSE!"
"The ship's going straight ahead." Zoro defended.
"According to what?!" She said, "You need to follow his nose!"
"No I don't. I just follow that big cloud up there." He said, pointing at the specific cloud.
"Don't you know that clouds move and change shape?!" She said, "Look at where Spinner is pointing! We're completely off course!"
Spinner was, at this point, now standing with his nose pointed towards starboard.
"Just forget it, I'll do it." Nami grumbled, and then suddenly perked up, "Hold on… something in the air is different."
"The air?" Zoro said, "It's been nice and sunny all day."
"EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!" Nami called out, getting the attention of the other three, "We're changing directions! Hoist the sails and catch the wind to port!"
"What's going on, Nami?" Sanji asked, "The sea's calm and the sky's clear."
"The wind. There's a big wind coming up ahead." Nami said, "Now hurry up and turn the ship!"
"AYE!" The three chorused in unison, all throwing themselves into their task. It would be just a little while later that they would witness an enormous cyclone appearing with no warning whatsoever, and they would realise that had they not changed course, they would have sailed directly into it. Once they were safely out of danger from the cyclone, they would correct their course and continue on their way.
-O-
By the time that the sun fell and rose again, the weather had changed completely from the clear and sunny climate which they had enjoyed since leaving Little Garden. A frigid air had come in its place, bringing with it a constant falling of snow which steadily piled up on the deck and forced everyone to layer up with coats and gloves. Everyone except for Luffy, who seemed somehow immune to the cold weather.
Cold weather wasn't the only new arrival there to greet the Straw Hats that day, either.
"There's someone standing on the water."
Standing on the water, just as Zoro said, was a funnily-dressed man wearing a mix of blue and green garments made to handle the cold weather that was all around him. His head was wrapped up, leaving only his face exposed, and his lips seemed to have an odd zigzagging shape to them. Upon his back was a large bow as well as a quiver of arrows.
As the Going Merry drew closer to where the bizarre man appeared to be standing on the surface of the ocean, Luffy and Usopp both stood at the bow in order to stare at him. Zoro also stared at him, but from further back on the ship. The man stared back at them. Small clouds of mist formed in front of everyone's faces from their breathing.
"Boy, sure is cold today." The man commented, finally speaking.
Luffy and Usopp looked at each other. They thought about what the man had just said.
"Yeah, sure is." Luffy agreed.
"Uh-huh." Usopp nodded, "It's cold alright."
"Really?" The man said.
The man stared at them. They stared at the man. Zoro also stared at the man, but the man didn't stare at him. Nobody said anything. Snow continued to fall all around them.
Then an enormous metal dome burst out of the sea from below where the man was standing. Or rather, an enormous ship burst out of the sea from below where he was standing, with the deck of the ship being contained within a metal dome which left only the top of the mast and furled sail exposed. The emerging ship dwarfed the Merry, and threw the surrounding waters into disarray with its sudden appearance.
They were rocked violently by the rough seas, forcing Luffy to grab onto the taffrail to keep himself steady while Usopp was thrown off his feet and fell back along the deck. Spinner began to slide back as well, but Luffy reached out to wrap his other hand around him and keep him in place. Those who were below the deck in the men's quarters also had to deal with the rocking of the ship, as was quickly evidenced by Nami's yell from below.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE?!"
Unfortunately, that wasn't a question that anybody on the deck could have given a good answer to, as they were themselves perplexed by the appearance of the larger ship.
"WHAT'S THAT?!" Luffy shouted, "A WATERMELON?!"
"That can't be a ship, can it?" Zoro said.
Like the peel of an orange being peeled back, the metal dome around the deck of the ship split apart and retracted back within the ship itself to reveal that which it had been concealing inside. A figurehead in the likeness of a hippopotamus wearing an ornate crown stared at the Straw Hats, while a Jolly Roger waved in the freezing winds above. The Jolly Roger bore a matching crown, and the lower half of the skull looked like an image of metal rather than of bone. More important than any figurehead or flag, however, were the dozens of men in green coats who could be seen standing on the deck of the ship, each one of them bearing a rifle in their hands.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Came a maniacal cackle, "WERE YOU SURPRISED BY BLIKING, MY GIANT SUBMERSIBLE ATTACK SHIP?!"
A boarding party surged from the so-called Bliking and stormed the deck of the Going Merry before the waters had even fully calmed, surrounding the scant few Straw Hats present and training the barrels of their weapons on them. Usopp, Luffy and Zoro were all surrounded in an instant, while Spinner was ignored.
"Damn it!" Usopp cursed, throwing his hands up in surrender without hesitation, "A pirate ship?!"
"We don't have time for this." Zoro grumbled, simply remaining as he was in spite of the threat.
Both Nami and Sanji came out to see what all the ruckus was about, with the former poking her head up through the hatch to the men's quarters, while the latter stepped out of the kitchen, and both of them immediately found themselves the target of a volley of rifles. Nami let out an exasperated sigh, while Sanji lit a new cigarette and took a long drag. Neither of them looked particularly concerned.
"What happened?" Sanji asked, speaking to Luffy as if all the men in coats weren't there.
"That ship attacked us." Luffy said.
"I thought it was something like that." Sanji said.
"I go to check on Spruce for five minutes and this is what we sail into…" Nami muttered, shaking her head disapprovingly.
With the gun-toting men in coats having seemingly taken control of the ship in that moment, a new individual joined them in crossing over from the Bliking onto the Merry. A man who resembled a teapot in many ways, being both short and stout, and having metal plating that both covered his jaw like a beard as well as wrapped around his chest like a tin jacket. He looked gruff and grumpy, with spiky purple hair. Strands of his hair poked out the sides beneath the hood of his white furred cloak, which was an actuality a fur rug draped over his shoulders and tied around his neck to suit the same purpose.
"Five of you…" 'Tin-Plate' Wapol said as he came aboard, carrying around a knife with a slab of meat hanging off it, "Can't be just the five of you."
He bit down on the slab of meat and tore a scrap away to gobble down, though it did little to satisfy his appetite. Opening his mouth up wide, he raised the knife into it and then chomped down, biting off not just the remaining meat but also the entirety of the blade as well, which he chewed up and swallowed as if it were the same as any other morsel of food.
"Never mind." Wapol said, "I've got a question."
"Who is that guy?" Luffy said, "He just ate that knife."
"My mouth hurts just watching him." Usopp added. He winced as Wapol went on to toss the handle of the blade into his mouth as well, like a tasty afterthought to the blade proper.
"We want to go to the Drum Kingdom." Wapol explained, "Do you have an Eternal Pose or a Log Pose?"
"Nope." Nami said, "And we've never heard of a place called the Drum Kingdom either."
"So if you're done, go away!" Luffy said.
"It's not good to rush through life." Wapol chastised, "If you don't have either of those things, we'll take your treasure and your ship instead."
"WHAT?!" Nami screeched, shooting up the rest of the way through the hatch and onto the deck, ignoring the armed men in favour of directing all her indignation towards Wapol herself, "LIKE HELL!"
Her anger didn't do much to deter Wapol, who seemed far more interested in the Merry itself. Unfortunately, his fixation on the ship meant that he failed to pay attention to the waters which surrounded them. Specifically, he failed to notice the large, crimson serpent which rose out of the sea and loomed over all those onboard with a very pissed-off look on his face.
The eyes of the pirates all quickly snapped over in Whiskers' direction, one after the other, as all of them save their captain took notice of his appearance. Eyes were widened, jaws were dropped, and many of them found the barrels of their rifles drifting downwards in the moment- until one among them was able to muster the nerve to put words to their situation.
"IT'S A SEA KING!" One of the pirates screamed, turning his weapon on Whiskers and wasting no time in pulling the trigger. The gunshot rang out over the deck, followed by a cacophony of additional shots as half the soldiers followed suit in opening fire on him.
"Huh? A Sea King?" Wapol said, pulling away from the Merry just before he had been about to dig in. He looked up to finally notice Whiskers right beside where he was on the ship, towering over him. The serpent twitched slightly with each gunshot which impacted uselessly against his scaly hide, and his enraged gaze only intensified with each shot fired. Nami seized her chance before the Bliking could take aim with anything more powerful than a mere rifle.
"THESE GUYS ARE TRYING TO STOP US FROM GETTING TO A DOCTOR!" Nami yelled, pointing specifically in Wapol's direction as she spoke. The pirates who weren't busy being terrified at the sight of the sea-serpent stared at Nami with mixed looks of shock and bafflement.
"Don't feel like eating Sea King today." Wapol huffed, and turned his attention back towards the ship he was on. He smacked his lips and opened his mouth up wide.
"GYARA…" Whiskers rumbled. He reared his head back and opened his mouth up wide as well. There was a sound like a geyser of water erupting that came from deeper within his throat, which served as a warning for all the Straw Hats to hit the deck as fast as they possibly could. A few of the pirates did the same, purely on instinct, while most of them, as well as their leader, remained standing right as Whiskers threw his head forwards and unleashed a mighty torrent of water.
"DOOOOOOOOOOS!"
The Brine attack hit Wapol first, at an almost point-blank range before he could take a bite of Merry. In an instant he was gone, blasted off the deck entirely and catapulted through the sky along the direction of the water and far out of view of anyone there. Whiskers tilted his head upwards as he focused his attack on Wapol, directing the attack's trajectory in the same direction and keeping it focused for about a second, before turning his attention towards all of Wapol's underlings.
With Wapol quite definitely out of the picture for the time being, Whiskers swept over the rest of the Merry with his Brine attack. The intensity lessened somewhat as he struck all the other pirates, not hurling them through the sky with quite as much force as was used on Wapol, but still blasting the lot of them off the deck and into the sea. Those of them standing near the bow of the ship screamed and tried to flee from the Whiskers' watery wrath. Some even jumped into the sea themselves, which only made the attack all the more effective. And with the Merry cleared out, Whiskers looked over to the Bliking, and was met with the sight of nothing but fear. Though not quite fear of him, exactly.
"THIS IS TERRIBLE!" The archer wailed, "CAPTAIN WAPOL'S BEEN BLASTED INTO SPACE BY THAT SEA MONSTER!"
"IT'S A CATASTROPHE!" Added a bearded man with an afro whose unique wardrobe suggested he was also someone important, "CAPTAIN WAPOL CAN'T SWIM!"
"THEN BEFORE HE SINKS AND DROWNS, WE GOTTA RESCUE HIM!" The archer said.
"REMEMBER US!" Afro man bellowed, pointing an accusatory finger at the Straw Hats as the Bliking made haste to sail away, "WE'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, JUST YOU WAIT!"
"REMEMBER US!"
"YOU REMEMBER THIS!"
-O-
It was only thanks to Nami's exceptional navigational abilities that they were able to continue sailing through the night with an unyielding determination to reach the next island as soon as possible. Spruce remained bedridden throughout it all, and Pex and Ria both remained at his bedside. The former sat on the table, his eyes locked directly on the sight of his trainer's resting form, while the latter had sat herself down on the floor beside the couch. Her legs were crossed and her eyes were closed, with her meditation being deep enough that she wasn't disturbed in the slightest by Sanji climbing down into the room, balancing three bowls of food on his free arm as he did so.
"Dinner is served." He announced. Moving with a practiced grace, he laid the bowls down on the relaxing table, taking care to avoid Pex's feathers getting in their contents. Two bowls of Pokémon food which looked like they were interchangeable, as well as a warm bowl of soup laden which various chopped vegetables. He gave it a moment to watch for reactions, and then frowned as none of the three made any effort to start eating. It was to be expected from Spruce, but not as much so from the other two.
"Hey, bird." Sanji said, nudging Pex and gesturing towards his bowl, "Eat up."
"Ravia…" Pex mumbled, turning his beak away from the food. That certainly earned a raised eyebrow from Sanji.
"You go through all that effort to steal food when you're not meant to, and now you won't even take a bite of what I'm serving you?" He said.
"Star." Pex replied.
"What good does it do to not eat?" Sanji challenged, "Spruce is already sick enough as it is, we don't need anyone else making things harder by starving themselves. I can't even feed this to half the crew as leftovers if you don't eat it, either."
"Star… Ravia?" Pex said.
"Just because he can eat it, doesn't mean he should." Sanji retorted, "Now get eating, you glutton."
For a moment, it seemed like Pex had more words of refusal to offer Sanji's way. Those words died in his throat, though, as he simply looked over from Spruce to Sanji, and then to the bowl of food that was sitting next to him. It was quiet, but both Pokémon and chef could hear his stomach rumble, before he- with an astonishing reluctance- began nibbling at the food in his bowl.
One down, one to go.
Turning his attention to where Ria was meditating on the floor, Sanji stepped over towards her and gently prodded her with his foot. She remained in her trance despite his interruption. Or she just ignored him. Either way, she wasn't giving him anything, so he just sighed and turned back to Spruce in order to size him up. After a couple of seconds he reached for the bowl of soup he had prepared, only to freeze as Spruce's eyes blinked open and locked onto him.
"Sanji." Spruce murmured, his eyes somewhat bleary. He shifted around on the couch, sitting up and sluggishly turning his gaze over every corner of the room.
"Spruce." Sanji said cordially.
"Where's Vivi? And… Carue?" Spruce asked.
"She retired for the night." Sanji said.
"For the night? So it's late now?" Spruce said. His eyes flicked upwards towards the open hatch above, through which he could catch a glance of the black sky hanging above the ship.
"Late enough for dinner. Do you plan on eating yours?" Sanji said. He nodded his head in the direction of the bowl of soup, diverting Spruce's attention towards it.
"Um… I'm sorry, but I'm really not feeling that hungry." Spruce said. Such an admission left him unable to meet Sanji's gaze, instead staring shamefully at where his feet poked up from below the comforter.
"That's to be expected with a fever like that." Sanji said, flashing a reassuring smile in Spruce's direction, "Still, your body burns a lot of energy burning that hot. See if you can't manage a spoonful or two, and I'll be back in a bit to put away whatever you couldn't finish."
"Okay, I'll do that." Spruce nodded, before adding as the chef made to head back up onto the deck, "Sanji?"
"Hm?" Sanji said, glancing back.
"Can you tell… can you tell Luffy and Nami that I'm sorry?" Spruce said, "I heard all that ruckus happening with those guys that attacked us earlier… I was about as useful as an Ambipom singing jazz. I'm not a very good scout if I can't warn you about stuff like that, am I? And Nami even went up to check it out and ended up in danger too…"
"Spruce." Sanji said firmly, "Don't trip yourself up apologising for things that nobody's angry at you for. All that does is make the people around you feel even worse while you're in such a perilous condition."
"Oh…" Spruce said, "I'm sor… Um…"
He trailed off halfway through, and just looked around the room awkwardly as the silence hung in the air.
"If you really want to make up for it," Sanji said, mercifully breaking it, "then be ready for once you're better. We've got more islands between here and Alabasta, and more Baroque Works agents to deal with. We'll need you to be on the lookout for any threats we can't immediately see, and you'd better be ready to lay your life down to make sure Vivi stays safe. Got that?"
The casual order for sacrifice earned a look of uncertainty from Pex, who glanced between the chef and the trainer. Spruce himself didn't seem at all put off. A smile appeared across his reddened face instead.
"Sure." He promised, "You'll be able to count on me!"
"Good, that's the kind of attitude that befits a man." Sanji said, "Now try and eat up. That goes for the three of you."
With that parting instruction, Sanji climbed back up through the hatch and onto the deck. He closed it behind him, muffling the sounds of Nami issuing orders and the rest of the crew toiling away through the night. Spruce closed his eyes once again and relaxed himself into the couch. After a second, he sat up and shifted himself around, facing the table and leaning over it as he reached for the spoon in the bowl which Sanji had left for him.
"Staravia." Pex murmured, nibbling away at his own dinner while keeping a watchful eye on his trainer.
"Hey, you don't need to worry about me." Spruce said, "The others are gonna find the best doctor in the Grand Line when we get to that next island, you'll see. I'll be back in tip-top shape, and you can go back to trying to out-eat Luffy in no time."
Pex seemed convinced, and he began to dig into his food with slightly more enthusiasm, though his gaze constantly shifted between his food and Spruce. Spruce maintained a reassuring smile as he looked right back. Only when he raised the spoon up to his lips did he allow the smile to fade, with his eyes drifting over to the third occupant of the room. Still meditating. Still not eating.
'He's not the only one that I don't want to worry about me…'
So how about that Pokemon Presents, huh? Nice to see Kalos fans getting a bone tossed their way amidst all the shilling for mobile games. Hopefully the return of Mega Evolution means we'll get to see some new ones. Not sure if I'd be happy or annoyed about Mega Staraptor becoming a real thing. Probably annoyed. Having more Zygarde lore to play around with will be neat.
On an unrelated note, I just picked up Persona 3 Reload today and immediately sank seven hours into it. If this story disappears for about three months after I post this, don't be alarmed. That's why.
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- Location
- USA
Ya know, something I wonder if Ria knows about to cause even more angst.
Lucario can learn Heal Pulse. Riolu can't.
Good chapter all round, much improved on getting the point across from the pokemon cast.
Lucario can learn Heal Pulse. Riolu can't.
Good chapter all round, much improved on getting the point across from the pokemon cast.
That is certainly a point of angst for her right now, on top of her regular evolutionary angst. It might also be a factor in why she started behaving weirdly near the end of the chapter.
- Location
- USA
Underestimating the Straw Hats there.
And even then, with most diseases it's not the virus that kills you, it's the fever from your body fighting back, and that seems to be the case with Kestia. If Heal Pulse can alleviate the damage from the fever, it buys time.
Skeith
An Occasional Master of BS
Even with some more time if the Strawhats hadn't gotten to Drum exactly Nami would have died in canon because.
1. The Disease Kills in 5 Days
2. The Medicine needed to treat it was rare because most people thought the Disease had died out. So, the medicine was rare.
1. The Disease Kills in 5 Days
2. The Medicine needed to treat it was rare because most people thought the Disease had died out. So, the medicine was rare.
Kestia killing in five days is coming from people who've never tried using Heal Pulse on their patients. But regardless of whether or not using it is a viable strategy for dealing with the Kestia Virus, nobody on the crew pre-Drum, especially not Ria herself, would have the medical knowledge to know that the obsolete vaccine Kureha just happens to be carrying around is the only hope of saving Spruce. So from her perspective, evolving could be a genuine way of saving his life.
The Straw Hats would still be rushing to Drum Island regardless of Spruce's sickness anyway. Since they're trying to get to Alabasta as soon as possible, and Nami specifically also knows about most of the royal soldiers defecting to join the rebel army.
Not to mention they will encounter Wapol and his group who pretended to be pirates and try to retake Drum Island after running away in the middle of Blackbeard and his friends going for a very enthusiastic walk there.
- Location
- USA
Might hammer the 'Evolve damnit' button for Pex too. Since a Staraptor is a strong enough flyer to carry a passenger, and I'm assuming the author isnt about to write out Luffy free climbing the Drum Rockies.
Who knows what I'm about to write? Not me, that's for sure.
I will say, on the Staraptor front, that you won't be waiting as long for that evolution to happen. This story only has room for one Pikachu, after all.
The Very, Very, Very Strongest
As the dust settled across the barren wasteland that had become the impromptu battlefield for such an awesome battle, those that stood on the sidelines watched on with mixed reactions of tense anticipation and vested disinterest. For some of them, the outcome had been a certainty before the battle even began, and they didn't need their eyes to see it confirmed. The others were simply blissfully ignorant of how little a chance their friend stood, and so continued to believe in his chances until the very last second.
A man in orange and blue garments stood across from Ria, with his gravity-defying spiky black hair pointing out in every direction. Though his body was one that looked as if it had been chiselled from stone, his eyes were soft and his grin was wide. Wide, and just a little self-satisfied, as he lowered his defensive stance. Ria, for her part, was woozy. Her body trembled, and exhaustion soaked into every fibre of her being, before she ultimately toppled over. She landed with her back to the ground, and swirly eyes staring up at the sky above them.
The sun was setting. Hues of orange and pink streaked across the sky, and the air had begun to chill. With a gentle smile, Spruce walked over to where Ria had fallen, and carefully slipped a hand under her back to help raise her up into a sitting position. He knelt down, and allowed her to lean against his knee. And as she regained her bearings, the man with the spiky hair made his way over.
"Hey, that was a good fight!" The man said, his voice light and full of energy, "Some of those techniques really surprised me, I can tell you've worked really hard on your training."
"Thanks." Spruce said, "But we could both tell how much you were really holding back. You're really in a league of your own, huh?"
"Oh, you could tell, huh?" The man said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "It wouldn't have been any fun going all out against someone who wasn't on my level. If you keep up your training, I'm sure you'll be able to push me harder the next time we fight."
"Riolu…" Ria murmured.
"The important thing is to always keep pushing yourself harder." He added, "Even as strong as I am now, I know there are a whole ton of fighters out there who are even stronger than me. I can't afford to slack off, either!"
"Sounds like we've really got out work cut out for us. Huh, Ria?" Spruce said.
"Lu." Ria nodded.
"That's the spirit." The man said, "You know, you kinda remind me of myself when I was younger. And so does that stretchy captain of yours. Don't forget to cherish the adventure that you're on right now! Travelling all over the world, meeting new people and making new friends, visiting strange lands, and fighting tough opponents… part of me wishes I could go through that all over again!"
Both Spruce and the man found their eyes drawn towards where Luffy was, and saw that the captain had quickly lost interest in the aftermath of the fight. He and Usopp were instead enamoured by the strange, talking pig, which had taken to showing off his shapeshifting abilities in a last-ditch effort to avoid being served up on a platter for Luffy. They laughed and cheered as the pig shifted between robots, demons, aliens and even a talking cat.
The other Straw Hats were likewise drawn to the other members of the spiky-haired man's group. Zoro sat across from a being of remarkably similar disposition, who even matched the swordsman's hair with his own dark green skin. Both sat with their legs crossed and their arms folded, seemingly in some kind of competition over who could be the most silent and stoic, even amidst all the antics that went on around them.
Two dreams at once had converged before Sanji, who was torn between being awed by the miraculous capsules which had deposited a fully-stocked, state-of-the-art kitchen setup before his very eyes, and being awed by the stunning blue-haired scientist who had showed those capsules off to him. His body moved almost on autopilot, seeking out ingredients and getting to work putting together a meal which could feed an army- because instinct told him that such a large serving would be necessary- while he lavished the scientist with as much praise as his mind could string together. She soaked it all up gleefully.
Had the other spiky-haired man, the short one in blue and white armour, been paying attention, he may have found himself annoyed by Sanji's antics. As it was, though, he was more interested in Vivi, who he approached just as the princess warily backed away from an elderly man with a lecherous gaze.
"You, girl." The short man spoke, his voice causing Vivi's head to whip over in his direction.
"Me?" She said, pointing at herself.
"You're not the same as these other outlaws." The short man said, "You carry yourself differently. You have royal blood in your veins, don't you?"
Though it was more curiosity than accusation that flavoured the short man's tone, the harshness of his voice still made Vivi flinch away at the question.
"That's…" Vivi began, but she stopped herself and thought over her words a bit more, before continuing, "That's not inaccurate."
"Then we're alike in that regard." The short man said, "Though I imagine that we have different reasons for the company we find ourselves in. Tell me, what is becoming of your kingdom at this moment?"
It was bizarre. The man's whole demeanour, his resting glare and his gruff voice, and even the vaguely threatening spikiness of his hair, all should have alarmed Vivi. Yet behind it all, there was a warmth in his voice that felt almost… not fatherly, not in the slightest, but akin to that of a very strict teacher, who ultimately had her best interests at heart.
"My kingdom and my people are both being threatened by an incredibly powerful man, conspiring to destroy them." Vivi explained, her fists balling up at the mere thought of it, "My friends… they're the ones helping me put an end to his schemes, and return peace to my nation."
The short man nodded. He turned his gaze away from Vivi, and instead looked over in the direction of the shapeshifting pig, as well as Luffy and Usopp. He hadn't paid attention when introductions were exchanged, but he could nonetheless tell that the former was the leader of the group, as his hat matched the flag they flew. When the short man looked upon Luffy, he saw an exuberant child whose volume would have irritated him if he stood even closer.
But he also saw a mighty figure with flowing locks of golden hair spiked upwards like a roaring flame. A body riddled with scrapes and bruises and streaked with dried blood, barely concealed behind torn orange and blue clothing. The figure stood proudly on the battle-torn terrain of a far-off world, and his eyes burned with rage and grief and an indomitable will to avenge one of the great cruelties of the universe. To avenge his friend.
Of course, the short man had not ever seen such a sight for himself. Yet he could picture it no clearer than in that moment when he looked at Monkey D. Luffy.
'Were you ever that carefree?' The short man wondered, looking over at the spiky-haired man, 'You never carried yourself like the unstoppable warrior you truly were. Always so relaxed, at peace with your own heart- until the moment came when those you cared about were under threat. A gentle strength that befriends just as many as it strikes down…'
The short man's thoughts drifted from Luffy to Ria, as he watched the small canine rise to her feet and stand firmly on her own. Even after such an absolute defeat so recently, the Pokémon's gaze was fierce as she barked challenges and declarations in the face of her better. At least, he assumed that was what she was saying. It was hard to tell.
'That creature, too. She shares your ceaseless drive to improve yourself, and your refusal to accept any limits that others would place upon her. Does that same potential dwell within her as it does within you? A power that comes not from the circumstances of her birth, but from the strength of her spirit?'
It seemed that he had gotten lost in thought.
"Um…" Vivi said, interrupting the short man's musings.
"Hm? Oh, yes." He said, "You should not allow yourself to become complacent just because you have found betters who will take up your fight for you. If you are lucky enough to still have your subjects when the crisis has concluded, you'll need to be able to find the strength to stand proudly on their behalf. Shed no shortage of your own blood in order to protect them, and have the resolve to stand against other such tyrants."
For as much as Crocodile was the prime threat which Alabasta faced at that moment, Vivi found that the advice which the man gave her made her think not of the Warlord of the Sea- but rather, of a white and blue flag, and five men who stood at the apex of world power.
"I will." She promised. The slightest trace of a smirk crossed the short man's lips at that. A trace so slight that no observer would have actually realised that it was there at all.
And as Ria stood strong in spite of her injuries and vowed to one day surpass the spiky-haired man, he let out a laugh.
"I'm looking forward to it!" He said, "If I can be part of the reason you decide you wanna get stronger, that would make me super happy. Though after seeing all those fancy moves you were using, I'm kind of itching for another fight… You think your captain would be willing to spar?"
"Hm. Maybe?" Spruce said, "I dunno, I think he'd be willing to go for it. HEY, LUFFY!"
"Now do a giant robot!" Luffy exclaimed, clapping his hands and hooting and hollering for the pig's transformations, before glancing over as his name was called, "Huh? Something up, Spruce?"
"This guy wants to fight you!"
"Why? Is he mad at me?"
"He thinks it would be fun!"
"Oh. Okay." Luffy said, "Sure."
With Luffy's interest diverted elsewhere, the shapeshifting pig breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself to transform into his delicious, porky self. Luffy strolled over to where the spiky-haired man was and flashed a grin.
"Hey! Let's fight." Luffy said.
"I'm looking forward to it!" The man replied. But just as the two were about to step away from each other and take up their positions, their stomachs growled in unison and stopped them in their tracks. The growling stomachs were almost like a cue, as both Luffy and the man seemed to just realise in that moment that they were hungry, and they both clutched their stomachs and looked over in the direction of where Sanji was cooking.
Having a pair of stomachs that legendary both crying out so close to him alerted Sanji without even needing to hear anything, as the chef instantly began plating everything up in order to be served. The two hungry fighters perked up instantly and dashed over.
"ALRIGHT, EVERYBODY. DINNER'S SERVED!"
Night had fallen by the time all was said and done. Empty dishes littered the enormous table that both groups had gathered around in order to eat. Members of both groups chatted each other up- or, in the case of Nami and the lecherous old man, tried to feel each other up and had the living daylights beaten out of them in response. Once the old man's face was so swollen and bruised as to be unrecognisable, Nami focused back on the scientist, who was giving her a look of approval.
Aside from that hiccup, the groups got along swimmingly.
"I see, so these creatures are called 'Pokémon'." Nodded a young man in glasses, whose orange and blue garments matched those of the spiky-haired man, "How interesting! I'd love to read a research paper about them, if anybody's ever written one."
"Well, nobody on Iron Island ever really wrote research papers." Spruce said, "But someone's probably written one. What about ants, though? You said they communicate using scent?"
"Oh! That's right!" The young man in glasses said, eyes shining behind the lenses as he spoke, "See, ants have these different types of pheromones they use! There was actually an experiment someone did, where they sprayed a living ant with a…"
Spruce nodded along as the man went into an extensive explanation, looking just as enthusiastic about the subject matter as he was. From across the table, the green-skinned alien smiled. Next to him, Usopp went on a ramble of his own.
"And so then, what did I, the great Captain Usopp do?" Usopp said, "Well I'm glad you asked! Even though all I had was my slingshot and a lone lead star, those ten thousand fishmen pirates didn't stand a chance against me!"
'What an impressive feat of tactical brilliance.' The green-skinned alien thought, 'While these pirates may not possess the same level of strength as us, they've clearly developed a keen strategic mind.'
"Man!" The spiky-haired man exclaimed, leaning back in his chair and patting his full stomach, "That was great! That's probably the second-best meal I've ever had in my life."
"Second-best?" Luffy said, "Sanji's the best chef out there! His food's the best!"
"I appreciate the confidence, though I'm sure there are other fine chefs out there just as talented as I." Sanji interjected, an easy-going smile on his face as he ignored the sheer amount of dishes that had to be cleaned, "If I might ask, who is it that I still have yet to surpass?"
"Oh, that would be my wife." The spiky-haired man said, "Nothing beats her cooking! Not in this universe, or any other!"
"She sounds like quite a remarkable woman." Sanji said, "Though if she's feeding you on the regular… you'd better be doing everything you can to keep her happy!"
"Hey, of course I am!" The spiky-haired man protested, "Well, I guess she would probably be happier if I got a job, too, but other than that…"
The blue-haired scientist let out a sigh.
"Alright, I'm all fired up now!" The spiky-haired man announced, shooting up from his seat and ignoring the glare Sanji was throwing his way, "I'm ready for that spar now, how about you?"
"Shishishi! You'd better be ready to go down." Luffy responded, mirroring the man's actions. Everyone around the table immediately looked over in the two fighters' directions, and got ready to spectate another fight.
The spiky-haired man made his way over across the wasteland, where he was hard to make out under the darkness of night as he began doing various stretches. Following his lead, Luffy began doing stretches of his own, and the Straw Hats all rose to their feet to surround him as he did.
"You'd better win, for the sake of our crew's honour." Zoro said.
"I was taking bets earlier on how this fight would go." Nami said, "If you lose, you'll owe me everything I have to pay out to them."
"I beat up an even stronger guy than him when I was a little kid." Usopp said, "If you can't win this fight, then I'll have no choice but to take over as captain."
"Make sure you give your food time to digest before jumping into a fight." Sanji said, "If either of you throw up, I'll make you eat it back up off the ground."
"Um… have fun?" Vivi said.
"Watch out for that big blue beam attack he fires." Spruce said.
"Riolu." Ria said.
Each of them patted their captain on the shoulder before he walked off to stand across the wasteland from the spiky-haired man, with the two getting into their own fighting stances. But before either one could jump into the action and kick things off, the spiky-haired man suddenly stood up and looked off into space.
"Oh, hey!" The spiky-haired man said. The Straw Hats all looked in the direction he was looking, only to see nothing but darkness and empty space. Not even Spruce or Ria could tell who he was talking to.
"Wait, really? Right now?" The spiky-haired man continued, "Man, that does sound pretty bad. Alright, I can go take care of it. No worries!"
And without another word, the spiky-haired man placed two fingers to his forehead, and disappeared.
"Uh… what?" Luffy said.
"Did he just turn invisible?" Usopp said.
"That bastard… he doesn't deserve invisibility or a wife…" Sanji growled.
"I didn't know people could use Teleport." Spruce said.
"Is the fight cancelled?" Nami said, "I guess that means everyone who bet on him winning was technically wrong…"
As surprised as the Straw Hats were, the spiky-haired man's friends weren't. They simply rose from their own seats, with the scientist returning the kitchen setup to the capsule it had come out of.
"Well I guess that's no surprise." Commented a bald man with six dotes on his forehead. The man's voice bore an uncanny similarity to Luffy's, so much so that the Straw Hats looked over at their captain when the bald man spoke.
"And off he goes again…" The young man in glasses sighed.
"Is this a normal occurrence?" Vivi said.
"He's not the kind of person who can just settle down in one place forever." The green-skinned alien said, "If he's not out in some far-off place…"
"Then he's training." The bald man finished.
"Or he's dead." The short man added bluntly, much to the confusion of the Straw Hats.
"But you're the same, aren't you?" The scientist said pointedly, "Sailing on that ship, it's not like you've settled down somewhere."
"Of course not!" Luffy called out as he made his way over, "I don't wanna settle down in one place! That's boring! I wanna be free to sail all over the sea, and visit tons of new places with my crew!"
"Heh… those sure were the days." The bald man chuckled, "Oh, to be young again…"
"I like you more the way you are now." A blonde woman with a steely gaze said, before turning her attention to Nami, "Since the fight's off, I'd like my bet returned."
The navigator tried to simply ignore the woman's request, as she hid herself partially behind Zoro and avoided meeting her gaze. After several seconds, as well as Zoro stepping out of her way, Nami finally relented, and stomped over to return a wad of crumpled-up bills.
"What the hell is a 'Zeni', anyway?" Nami muttered.
"Well, I think it's about time that we were getting back." The scientist said.
"Yeah, this was fun, though." The bald man said.
"Keep in mind the things that were said today." The short man said, looking directly at Vivi as he did.
The old lecher would have had his own kindly words to offer, were he not still recovering from Nami's earlier beating.
"Good luck finding that 'One Piece' thing!" The bald man said.
"Don't let yourselves slack off with your training." The green-skinned alien said.
"If you train hard enough, he might break a sweat in your next fight." The short man said, "It's unlikely, though."
Together, the group of strange people lifted up off the ground- as if suspended by strings- and rose up into the sky. A handful of them, including the scientist, lecher and shapeshifting pig, remained on the ground, until the scientist threw out another capsule which revealed some kind of spherical aircraft that they were able to climb inside and follow after the rest of their group in.
The Straw Hats all watched as the lot of them, their bodies shrouded in hues of faint white light as they flew, vanished into the night sky amidst the plethora of other stars.
"They can fly?" Usopp blinked.
"They can fly." Zoro deadpanned.
"I wanna fly!" Luffy said.
"Maybe if Pex evolves." Spruce offered. As the words left his mouth, the final syllable morphed into a loud, enduring yawn which pushed its way out.
"It's gotten pretty late." Sanji said, "We should get some sleep."
"Sounds like a plan." Nami said. She took a step towards Vivi and took the princess' hand in hers, leading her back in the direction of the ship. Sanji was the first to follow after the two, and the rest of the crew fell in line as well.
It was Ria who lingered in the wasteland, her gaze still fixed on the starry sky above them. There was a tiny pinprick of blue light that blinked into existence between all the other, bigger stars, and then was gone just as fast. As soon as she saw it, a sense of determination filled her body, and she cupped her paws together and lowered them to the side of her hip.
"Riol… Riol…"
A man in orange and blue garments stood across from Ria, with his gravity-defying spiky black hair pointing out in every direction. Though his body was one that looked as if it had been chiselled from stone, his eyes were soft and his grin was wide. Wide, and just a little self-satisfied, as he lowered his defensive stance. Ria, for her part, was woozy. Her body trembled, and exhaustion soaked into every fibre of her being, before she ultimately toppled over. She landed with her back to the ground, and swirly eyes staring up at the sky above them.
The sun was setting. Hues of orange and pink streaked across the sky, and the air had begun to chill. With a gentle smile, Spruce walked over to where Ria had fallen, and carefully slipped a hand under her back to help raise her up into a sitting position. He knelt down, and allowed her to lean against his knee. And as she regained her bearings, the man with the spiky hair made his way over.
"Hey, that was a good fight!" The man said, his voice light and full of energy, "Some of those techniques really surprised me, I can tell you've worked really hard on your training."
"Thanks." Spruce said, "But we could both tell how much you were really holding back. You're really in a league of your own, huh?"
"Oh, you could tell, huh?" The man said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "It wouldn't have been any fun going all out against someone who wasn't on my level. If you keep up your training, I'm sure you'll be able to push me harder the next time we fight."
"Riolu…" Ria murmured.
"The important thing is to always keep pushing yourself harder." He added, "Even as strong as I am now, I know there are a whole ton of fighters out there who are even stronger than me. I can't afford to slack off, either!"
"Sounds like we've really got out work cut out for us. Huh, Ria?" Spruce said.
"Lu." Ria nodded.
"That's the spirit." The man said, "You know, you kinda remind me of myself when I was younger. And so does that stretchy captain of yours. Don't forget to cherish the adventure that you're on right now! Travelling all over the world, meeting new people and making new friends, visiting strange lands, and fighting tough opponents… part of me wishes I could go through that all over again!"
Both Spruce and the man found their eyes drawn towards where Luffy was, and saw that the captain had quickly lost interest in the aftermath of the fight. He and Usopp were instead enamoured by the strange, talking pig, which had taken to showing off his shapeshifting abilities in a last-ditch effort to avoid being served up on a platter for Luffy. They laughed and cheered as the pig shifted between robots, demons, aliens and even a talking cat.
The other Straw Hats were likewise drawn to the other members of the spiky-haired man's group. Zoro sat across from a being of remarkably similar disposition, who even matched the swordsman's hair with his own dark green skin. Both sat with their legs crossed and their arms folded, seemingly in some kind of competition over who could be the most silent and stoic, even amidst all the antics that went on around them.
Two dreams at once had converged before Sanji, who was torn between being awed by the miraculous capsules which had deposited a fully-stocked, state-of-the-art kitchen setup before his very eyes, and being awed by the stunning blue-haired scientist who had showed those capsules off to him. His body moved almost on autopilot, seeking out ingredients and getting to work putting together a meal which could feed an army- because instinct told him that such a large serving would be necessary- while he lavished the scientist with as much praise as his mind could string together. She soaked it all up gleefully.
Had the other spiky-haired man, the short one in blue and white armour, been paying attention, he may have found himself annoyed by Sanji's antics. As it was, though, he was more interested in Vivi, who he approached just as the princess warily backed away from an elderly man with a lecherous gaze.
"You, girl." The short man spoke, his voice causing Vivi's head to whip over in his direction.
"Me?" She said, pointing at herself.
"You're not the same as these other outlaws." The short man said, "You carry yourself differently. You have royal blood in your veins, don't you?"
Though it was more curiosity than accusation that flavoured the short man's tone, the harshness of his voice still made Vivi flinch away at the question.
"That's…" Vivi began, but she stopped herself and thought over her words a bit more, before continuing, "That's not inaccurate."
"Then we're alike in that regard." The short man said, "Though I imagine that we have different reasons for the company we find ourselves in. Tell me, what is becoming of your kingdom at this moment?"
It was bizarre. The man's whole demeanour, his resting glare and his gruff voice, and even the vaguely threatening spikiness of his hair, all should have alarmed Vivi. Yet behind it all, there was a warmth in his voice that felt almost… not fatherly, not in the slightest, but akin to that of a very strict teacher, who ultimately had her best interests at heart.
"My kingdom and my people are both being threatened by an incredibly powerful man, conspiring to destroy them." Vivi explained, her fists balling up at the mere thought of it, "My friends… they're the ones helping me put an end to his schemes, and return peace to my nation."
The short man nodded. He turned his gaze away from Vivi, and instead looked over in the direction of the shapeshifting pig, as well as Luffy and Usopp. He hadn't paid attention when introductions were exchanged, but he could nonetheless tell that the former was the leader of the group, as his hat matched the flag they flew. When the short man looked upon Luffy, he saw an exuberant child whose volume would have irritated him if he stood even closer.
But he also saw a mighty figure with flowing locks of golden hair spiked upwards like a roaring flame. A body riddled with scrapes and bruises and streaked with dried blood, barely concealed behind torn orange and blue clothing. The figure stood proudly on the battle-torn terrain of a far-off world, and his eyes burned with rage and grief and an indomitable will to avenge one of the great cruelties of the universe. To avenge his friend.
Of course, the short man had not ever seen such a sight for himself. Yet he could picture it no clearer than in that moment when he looked at Monkey D. Luffy.
'Were you ever that carefree?' The short man wondered, looking over at the spiky-haired man, 'You never carried yourself like the unstoppable warrior you truly were. Always so relaxed, at peace with your own heart- until the moment came when those you cared about were under threat. A gentle strength that befriends just as many as it strikes down…'
The short man's thoughts drifted from Luffy to Ria, as he watched the small canine rise to her feet and stand firmly on her own. Even after such an absolute defeat so recently, the Pokémon's gaze was fierce as she barked challenges and declarations in the face of her better. At least, he assumed that was what she was saying. It was hard to tell.
'That creature, too. She shares your ceaseless drive to improve yourself, and your refusal to accept any limits that others would place upon her. Does that same potential dwell within her as it does within you? A power that comes not from the circumstances of her birth, but from the strength of her spirit?'
It seemed that he had gotten lost in thought.
"Um…" Vivi said, interrupting the short man's musings.
"Hm? Oh, yes." He said, "You should not allow yourself to become complacent just because you have found betters who will take up your fight for you. If you are lucky enough to still have your subjects when the crisis has concluded, you'll need to be able to find the strength to stand proudly on their behalf. Shed no shortage of your own blood in order to protect them, and have the resolve to stand against other such tyrants."
For as much as Crocodile was the prime threat which Alabasta faced at that moment, Vivi found that the advice which the man gave her made her think not of the Warlord of the Sea- but rather, of a white and blue flag, and five men who stood at the apex of world power.
"I will." She promised. The slightest trace of a smirk crossed the short man's lips at that. A trace so slight that no observer would have actually realised that it was there at all.
And as Ria stood strong in spite of her injuries and vowed to one day surpass the spiky-haired man, he let out a laugh.
"I'm looking forward to it!" He said, "If I can be part of the reason you decide you wanna get stronger, that would make me super happy. Though after seeing all those fancy moves you were using, I'm kind of itching for another fight… You think your captain would be willing to spar?"
"Hm. Maybe?" Spruce said, "I dunno, I think he'd be willing to go for it. HEY, LUFFY!"
"Now do a giant robot!" Luffy exclaimed, clapping his hands and hooting and hollering for the pig's transformations, before glancing over as his name was called, "Huh? Something up, Spruce?"
"This guy wants to fight you!"
"Why? Is he mad at me?"
"He thinks it would be fun!"
"Oh. Okay." Luffy said, "Sure."
With Luffy's interest diverted elsewhere, the shapeshifting pig breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself to transform into his delicious, porky self. Luffy strolled over to where the spiky-haired man was and flashed a grin.
"Hey! Let's fight." Luffy said.
"I'm looking forward to it!" The man replied. But just as the two were about to step away from each other and take up their positions, their stomachs growled in unison and stopped them in their tracks. The growling stomachs were almost like a cue, as both Luffy and the man seemed to just realise in that moment that they were hungry, and they both clutched their stomachs and looked over in the direction of where Sanji was cooking.
Having a pair of stomachs that legendary both crying out so close to him alerted Sanji without even needing to hear anything, as the chef instantly began plating everything up in order to be served. The two hungry fighters perked up instantly and dashed over.
"ALRIGHT, EVERYBODY. DINNER'S SERVED!"
-O-
Aside from that hiccup, the groups got along swimmingly.
"I see, so these creatures are called 'Pokémon'." Nodded a young man in glasses, whose orange and blue garments matched those of the spiky-haired man, "How interesting! I'd love to read a research paper about them, if anybody's ever written one."
"Well, nobody on Iron Island ever really wrote research papers." Spruce said, "But someone's probably written one. What about ants, though? You said they communicate using scent?"
"Oh! That's right!" The young man in glasses said, eyes shining behind the lenses as he spoke, "See, ants have these different types of pheromones they use! There was actually an experiment someone did, where they sprayed a living ant with a…"
Spruce nodded along as the man went into an extensive explanation, looking just as enthusiastic about the subject matter as he was. From across the table, the green-skinned alien smiled. Next to him, Usopp went on a ramble of his own.
"And so then, what did I, the great Captain Usopp do?" Usopp said, "Well I'm glad you asked! Even though all I had was my slingshot and a lone lead star, those ten thousand fishmen pirates didn't stand a chance against me!"
'What an impressive feat of tactical brilliance.' The green-skinned alien thought, 'While these pirates may not possess the same level of strength as us, they've clearly developed a keen strategic mind.'
"Man!" The spiky-haired man exclaimed, leaning back in his chair and patting his full stomach, "That was great! That's probably the second-best meal I've ever had in my life."
"Second-best?" Luffy said, "Sanji's the best chef out there! His food's the best!"
"I appreciate the confidence, though I'm sure there are other fine chefs out there just as talented as I." Sanji interjected, an easy-going smile on his face as he ignored the sheer amount of dishes that had to be cleaned, "If I might ask, who is it that I still have yet to surpass?"
"Oh, that would be my wife." The spiky-haired man said, "Nothing beats her cooking! Not in this universe, or any other!"
"She sounds like quite a remarkable woman." Sanji said, "Though if she's feeding you on the regular… you'd better be doing everything you can to keep her happy!"
"Hey, of course I am!" The spiky-haired man protested, "Well, I guess she would probably be happier if I got a job, too, but other than that…"
The blue-haired scientist let out a sigh.
"Alright, I'm all fired up now!" The spiky-haired man announced, shooting up from his seat and ignoring the glare Sanji was throwing his way, "I'm ready for that spar now, how about you?"
"Shishishi! You'd better be ready to go down." Luffy responded, mirroring the man's actions. Everyone around the table immediately looked over in the two fighters' directions, and got ready to spectate another fight.
The spiky-haired man made his way over across the wasteland, where he was hard to make out under the darkness of night as he began doing various stretches. Following his lead, Luffy began doing stretches of his own, and the Straw Hats all rose to their feet to surround him as he did.
"You'd better win, for the sake of our crew's honour." Zoro said.
"I was taking bets earlier on how this fight would go." Nami said, "If you lose, you'll owe me everything I have to pay out to them."
"I beat up an even stronger guy than him when I was a little kid." Usopp said, "If you can't win this fight, then I'll have no choice but to take over as captain."
"Make sure you give your food time to digest before jumping into a fight." Sanji said, "If either of you throw up, I'll make you eat it back up off the ground."
"Um… have fun?" Vivi said.
"Watch out for that big blue beam attack he fires." Spruce said.
"Riolu." Ria said.
Each of them patted their captain on the shoulder before he walked off to stand across the wasteland from the spiky-haired man, with the two getting into their own fighting stances. But before either one could jump into the action and kick things off, the spiky-haired man suddenly stood up and looked off into space.
"Oh, hey!" The spiky-haired man said. The Straw Hats all looked in the direction he was looking, only to see nothing but darkness and empty space. Not even Spruce or Ria could tell who he was talking to.
"Wait, really? Right now?" The spiky-haired man continued, "Man, that does sound pretty bad. Alright, I can go take care of it. No worries!"
And without another word, the spiky-haired man placed two fingers to his forehead, and disappeared.
"Uh… what?" Luffy said.
"Did he just turn invisible?" Usopp said.
"That bastard… he doesn't deserve invisibility or a wife…" Sanji growled.
"I didn't know people could use Teleport." Spruce said.
"Is the fight cancelled?" Nami said, "I guess that means everyone who bet on him winning was technically wrong…"
As surprised as the Straw Hats were, the spiky-haired man's friends weren't. They simply rose from their own seats, with the scientist returning the kitchen setup to the capsule it had come out of.
"Well I guess that's no surprise." Commented a bald man with six dotes on his forehead. The man's voice bore an uncanny similarity to Luffy's, so much so that the Straw Hats looked over at their captain when the bald man spoke.
"And off he goes again…" The young man in glasses sighed.
"Is this a normal occurrence?" Vivi said.
"He's not the kind of person who can just settle down in one place forever." The green-skinned alien said, "If he's not out in some far-off place…"
"Then he's training." The bald man finished.
"Or he's dead." The short man added bluntly, much to the confusion of the Straw Hats.
"But you're the same, aren't you?" The scientist said pointedly, "Sailing on that ship, it's not like you've settled down somewhere."
"Of course not!" Luffy called out as he made his way over, "I don't wanna settle down in one place! That's boring! I wanna be free to sail all over the sea, and visit tons of new places with my crew!"
"Heh… those sure were the days." The bald man chuckled, "Oh, to be young again…"
"I like you more the way you are now." A blonde woman with a steely gaze said, before turning her attention to Nami, "Since the fight's off, I'd like my bet returned."
The navigator tried to simply ignore the woman's request, as she hid herself partially behind Zoro and avoided meeting her gaze. After several seconds, as well as Zoro stepping out of her way, Nami finally relented, and stomped over to return a wad of crumpled-up bills.
"What the hell is a 'Zeni', anyway?" Nami muttered.
"Well, I think it's about time that we were getting back." The scientist said.
"Yeah, this was fun, though." The bald man said.
"Keep in mind the things that were said today." The short man said, looking directly at Vivi as he did.
The old lecher would have had his own kindly words to offer, were he not still recovering from Nami's earlier beating.
"Good luck finding that 'One Piece' thing!" The bald man said.
"Don't let yourselves slack off with your training." The green-skinned alien said.
"If you train hard enough, he might break a sweat in your next fight." The short man said, "It's unlikely, though."
Together, the group of strange people lifted up off the ground- as if suspended by strings- and rose up into the sky. A handful of them, including the scientist, lecher and shapeshifting pig, remained on the ground, until the scientist threw out another capsule which revealed some kind of spherical aircraft that they were able to climb inside and follow after the rest of their group in.
The Straw Hats all watched as the lot of them, their bodies shrouded in hues of faint white light as they flew, vanished into the night sky amidst the plethora of other stars.
"They can fly?" Usopp blinked.
"They can fly." Zoro deadpanned.
"I wanna fly!" Luffy said.
"Maybe if Pex evolves." Spruce offered. As the words left his mouth, the final syllable morphed into a loud, enduring yawn which pushed its way out.
"It's gotten pretty late." Sanji said, "We should get some sleep."
"Sounds like a plan." Nami said. She took a step towards Vivi and took the princess' hand in hers, leading her back in the direction of the ship. Sanji was the first to follow after the two, and the rest of the crew fell in line as well.
It was Ria who lingered in the wasteland, her gaze still fixed on the starry sky above them. There was a tiny pinprick of blue light that blinked into existence between all the other, bigger stars, and then was gone just as fast. As soon as she saw it, a sense of determination filled her body, and she cupped her paws together and lowered them to the side of her hip.
"Riol… Riol…"
R.I.P
Akira Toriyama
(1955 - 2024)
Akira Toriyama
(1955 - 2024)
Chapter 16: In the Bleak Midwinter
"AN ISLAND!"
For all that the current circumstances were dire, none of that did anything to stifle the sheer excitement bursting out in Luffy's voice as the ship drew closer and closer towards their next destination. From across the sea, even without the use of binoculars or a telescope, those on the deck could tell that the new island was mountainous, with flattened peaks decorating its silhouette on the horizon. That same silhouette was a stark white, in contrast to the greenery of Little Garden, just in case there had been any doubt as to what kind of climate would await them after all their time spent sailing through the surrounding frigid waters.
"It's so white!" Luffy cheered, sitting in his usual spot atop the figurehead, "It's snow! A snow island!"
"Just remember why we're here, Luffy!" Sanji said, "Adventure can come second to finding a doctor to take care of Spruce."
"Once we've found a doctor, we could probably just leave immediately." Nami said, "Since Spinner can lock onto the next island without having to record this one's magnetic field first."
"Well- you don't have to leave immediately." Vivi said, "Having control over the voyage to Alabasta is a reassurance, and I'd more than understand if you wanted to take a day or two as a break after such a stressful period."
The suggestion caused something to flicker in Nami's eyes- an uncertainty, and a sense of regret- and she almost spoke up to decline the offer, but stopped as Sanji spoke up again.
"It's no use. He's not listening" The chef muttered, describing Luffy who was now mumbling to himself about how great snow was.
Apparently, Usopp didn't quite agree with such a notion.
"Wait, are you sure it's safe?" He questioned, suddenly getting nervous as the island grew steadily closer, "If there's snow here, couldn't there be a snow monster?! Do we even know if there are people there at all?"
"Actually…" Sanji said, raising a hand to his chin in thought, "After Iron Island and Little Garden, it's possible that this could be Nanimonai Island."
"That's the island which Miss All-Sunday tried to direct us to, back in Whiskey Peak!" Vivi gasped.
"The island right before Alabasta." Nami nodded, "And chances are that Baroque Works have some kind of trap prepared for when we arrive there."
"Quack!" Carue quacked nervously.
"Igaram did say that there were probably only two or three islands between Whiskey Peak and Alabasta." Vivi said, "Even discounting Iron Island, since those circumstances were so odd, then that would mean either this island or the next will end up being Nanimonai."
"A hell of a time for our scout to be out of commission." Sanji deadpanned.
"I… think that my 'I-can't-visit-that-island-or-I'll-die-itis' is acting up again…" Usopp groaned.
"If it is Nanimonai, that would actually be a relief." Vivi mused, "It would mean that Alabasta is our next destination once we leave. Not to mention that with how long a Log Pose takes to reset on Little Garden, on top of all the dangers present, Baroque Works certainly can't be expecting us to have gotten here so soon."
"If there is a trap waiting for us, just know that I'll protect both you lovely ladies!" Sanji assured Nami and Vivi, giving them both a thumbs-up and a reassuring smile.
"What about me?!" Usopp cried indignantly.
As the others were preoccupied with discussions over what they could expect to encounter on the new island, and Luffy was still utterly enchanted by the concept of snow and the excitement of going somewhere new, it was Zoro who noticed as Pex swooped down from above. Returning from the direction of the island, he descended down through the open hatch to the men's quarters. A few seconds later, Zoro was vaguely able to make out the sounds of a pencil scribbling on a piece of paper coming from below. He raised an eyebrow, but otherwise paid it no mind.
"Well, whatever we're about to find waiting for us, we'll find it soon." Nami announced, "Prepare to make landfall, everyone!"
On that note, the crew did just that. Continuing on towards the island, the temperature did nothing but continue to decrease as they drew closer, and several of them found themselves shivering slightly even with the thick winter coats which they had donned. And as they reached the shores of the island and sailed inland, the majesty of the island became truly apparent.
"Those mountains sure are impressive." Sanji commented, his eyes widening at the sight of the peaks. The silhouette of the island against the skyline hadn't been deceptive, as behind pointed, snowy peaks, stood rows of circular mountains with flat peaks that practically dwarfed their pointier brethren.
"And all that snow! This is great!" Luffy gushed, the only one among them seemingly unbothered by the cold, in spite of him only wearing his standard vest and shorts. Such disregard for the climate did not go unquestioned by his friends.
"Aren't you cold dressed like that?" Usopp said.
"It's fourteen degrees out." Nami remarked, "Bears get ready to hibernate at those temperatures."
"Huh?" Luffy blinked, glancing over in Usopp's direction, "Oh, uh… It's cold!"
In an instant, the captain began to shiver uncontrollably, and his teeth chattered in the same fashion. His hands sought out his bare arms and began vigorously rubbing up and down, trying to create as much heat as possible, and he shrank in on himself.
"YOU JUST NOTICED?!" Sanji and Usopp exclaimed in unison.
Hopping down off the figurehead, Luffy hurried over in the direction of the men's quarters, intent on climbing down and grabbing his own coat- only to end up running right into Spruce, who had just climbed up through the hatch himself. Both pirates bounced off each other, with Spruce stumbling back and almost tripping back down the hatch again. Luffy quickly reached out to steady him, having only taken a step back himself.
"Hey, Spruce." Luffy said, "What's up?"
It was a wonder that the trainer had managed to make his way out of the bed and onto the deck like he had, as his condition hadn't improved whatsoever from how he had been the night before. His face was red and his eyes were slightly unfocused, and his skin was clammy all over. Like Luffy, his manner of dress didn't suit the current climate at all, being clad in just his typical tattered shirts and shorts which, honestly, didn't fit any climate with the condition they were in. He was clutching a piece of paper with a scribble on it in his hand, though that detail was of little relevance to the others who had just noticed that Spruce had come up.
"Spruce!" Vivi chastised lightly, hurrying over to him and looking him up and down, her concern flaring up at his condition, "What are you doing, you should be resting!"
"What are you doing dressed like that?!" Nami said, "It's freezing out here!"
"But… isn't the problem that my body is too hot…?" Spruce mumbled, though he didn't appear to be shivering in the slightest, "Being cold is a good thing, right?"
"Yeah, that makes sense." Luffy said, "Maybe if you went for a swim, that would help even more?"
"That's not how it works, you idiots." Nami ground out, "Put on something warm before you freeze to death."
"I don't really have anything warmer. Or anything colder, either." Spruce said. Both Nami and Vivi stared at him, mulling his words over.
"I have a coat you can borrow, come on." Vivi said, grabbing his hand and trying to lead him over to the women's quarters, only for Spruce to gently tug his hand from her grip and face Luffy once more.
"Wait." Spruce said, his eyes focusing as he held the sheet of paper out for Luffy to take, "The reason I came up was because I had to warn all of you."
"Warn us? About what?" Sanji said, suddenly alert and glancing at the surrounding land, "Is it Baroque Works?"
"No, I don't think so." Spruce shook his head, "But there's a big crowd of people waiting for us in the direction we're going. And they're really angry, and really scared, so I had Pex fly over to scout ahead, and apparently they're all carrying around these things."
As Luffy took the piece of paper from Spruce, the trainer pointed at the specific drawing on it. It was a scribbly mess, looking how one would expect any drawing done by a bird to look, but it nonetheless conveyed the basic details of the object. Long and narrow, like a stick, with a small, curved protrusion near one end. Peering over Spruce's shoulder, Vivi's eyes immediately widened as she looked at it.
"Spruce, that's a gun." Vivi said.
"Is it? That's like that thing that the bomb guy was using, right?" Spruce said, "They don't look very similar though."
"There's an army waiting for us with guns?!" Usopp screeched, dashing over to Zoro and hiding behind him, "M-M-Maybe we can try our luck with the island after this one!"
"If it was Baroque Works, I don't see why they'd be scared while having such an advantage over us." Sanji said, "What's more likely is that it's the inhabitants of the island who want to try and defend themselves from us."
"Why would they want to defend against us?" Luffy said.
None of the others said anything. They all stared at Luffy, before Nami, Sanji and Usopp all pointed in unison up at the jolly roger which the ship was flying. Vivi glanced up at the flag was well, looking contemplative.
"Perhaps… it would be a good idea to take the flag down, just for the time being?" She suggested, "If we raised a white flag instead, it would at least be an indicator that we mean no harm."
"What?!" Luffy cried, "No way! We're not taking our pirate flag down!"
"But-!" Vivi began.
"A flag is a pirate's pride! If we took it down because we were scared of getting into a fight, we'd be nothing but a bunch of cowards!" Luffy said, cutting her off furiously, "If those people are scared because we're pirates, then we'll just explain that we need a doctor!"
"You shouldn't let your pride get in the way of-!" Vivi began, only to be cut off by Spruce this time.
"It's okay, Vivi." He said, his voice quiet, "I wouldn't want to ask anyone to do something they weren't okay with. I'm sure if you just explain things to them, they'll understand."
"It's too late to argue about it anymore, anyway." Zoro added. Everyone stiffened up at the statement, as the ship had indeed sailed far enough inland for them to have finally reached the assembled party waiting for them on the island itself.
Up ahead was a waterfall of melting snow, a beautiful sight and a perfect place for the ship to dock nearby, but Nami could hardly appreciate such a thing when her attention was focused on the dozens of people flanking the ship from all sides. They were dressed similarly to the Straw Hats, layered up with thick and woollen winter coats, hats and scarves to keep themselves warm, and they were armed to the teeth, with the lot of them having the barrels of their various firearms aimed at those on the deck.
"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU PIRATES."
The voice which spoke came from one man in particular who towered over his contemporaries. His build was strong, something which one could tell even through his own thick green coat that he wore, with metal plating over the sleeves. Strapped to his back was a large weapon of some sort, a bladed implement of which only a tiny sliver of the metal blade peeked out of the sheath. While those around him looked livid, with burning anger serving to mask underlying terror, the man himself had a stony expression. He glared at the Straw Hats all the same, but his emotions were far more restrained.
"TURN YOUR VESSEL AROUND, AND LEAVE NOW!" The man continued. His voice thundered, but it remained as controlled as his expression.
"Definitely not Baroque Works, then." Nami said.
"They look pretty nasty." Usopp noted.
From the lot of them, it was Luffy and Vivi who approached the taffrail in order to speak to the crowd directly. As they did, Spruce's body sagged slightly, and he leaned himself against the ship's mast for support.
"WE CAME HERE TO FIND A DOCTOR!" Luffy yelled at them.
"WE HAVE A SICK PERSON ONBOARD!" Vivi quickly added, gesturing behind her to Spruce.
"DON'T YOU TRY YOUR TRICKS ON US, DIRTY PIRATES!" Came a scream from amongst the people gathered. In contrast to their apparent leader, the voices of the rest of them were shaky and filled with utter vitriol.
It was clear that the words from both of them- Vivi in particular- had bounced off of their enraged exteriors completely. Though their leader's eyes did flick over to Spruce, narrowing slightly as he saw the way that the boy leaned against the mast for support, not to mention the sight of his clammy skin and reddened forehead.
"THIS IS OUR COUNTRY! WE'LL LET NO PIRATE SET FOOT HERE!" Another person roared.
"NOW RAISE YOUR ACHOR AND GO! OF WE'LL BLAST YOUR SHIP FROM THE WATER!"
"They really don't like us." Sanji observed, "And we only just met."
"DON'T TALK! GO!"
BLAM!
With a yell of surprise, Sanji jumped out of the way as a bullet pierced through the deck just beside where he'd been standing, courtesy of an especially aggressive civilian.
"THEY FIRED ON US!" Usopp cried.
"How dare you?!" Sanji growled, glancing up at the man who had fired the shot and directing a glare his way. The anger in the chef's eyes found itself mirrored by the man, who kept the barrel of his weapon trained on him. Sanji made to take a step forwards, as if to leap through the air and attack the man, but Vivi dashed over and planted her hands on his shoulders to stop him.
"Wait, Sanji!" Vivi urged.
BLAM!
It was hard for any observers to tell exactly where the next bullet hit exactly. As the sound was still ringing in their ears, Vivi fell to the deck with a spurt of crimson blood shooting into the air from a newly acquired wound. All of it happened so fast that it wasn't until Vivi had fallen did anyone actually realise what had just happened. None of them were happy. Even the man who had just shot her seemed surprised at it himself.
"VIVI!" Nami shrieked, throwing herself down at Vivi's side as she frantically searched for the wound.
"YOU JERKS!" Luffy bellowed, fury igniting in his eyes in an instant.
But the anger from everyone currently standing on solid ground paled in comparison to the miasma of rage suddenly wafting out from the frigid waters- practically boiling them.
"GYARADOOOOOOOOOS!"
With a primal roar, Whiskers burst out from beneath the water's surface in an instant, sending spray flying in every direction. Many of the civilians gathered by the water's edge recoiled away from his sudden appearance, and a number of them didn't even process what he actually was. A mass of red and yellow that towered over everyone present, and whose cry rattled their very bones.
Briefly, Whiskers' eyes flickered over in the direction of Vivi lying, motionless, on the deck, with her white coat being stained by blood to match the pigment of his own scales. He saw the sight of a terrified Nami at her side, and then he looked across the deck to see Spruce struggling to remain upright. Then he turned his attention to the civilians gathered at the edge of the water, loaded to the teeth, and he opened his mouth wide.
"IT'S A SEA KING!" One person yelled.
"IS IT THE PIRATES' PET?!"
Even the leader, who had seemed so unflappable and controlled, looked astonished at the sight of the sea serpent currently glowering at them. That astonishment only grew as he and everyone else watched a mass of water begin to collect within Whiskers' mouth, forming a tightly contained ball as he leaned his head forwards over them and aimed his mouth downwards.
He figured out before anyone else what exactly the serpent was doing.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" The leader screamed. Reaching back to grab the hilt of his weapon, he bent his knees and prepared to jump, while his body tensed in preparation for a particular transformation that would predate the action. Whiskers didn't seem to pay the man in particular any mind, preoccupied with venting his anger through his attack- but both man and Pokémon froze in their tracks as another voice joined the chorus of screams.
"WHISKERS, STOP IT!"
It was Spruce who screamed, and he shoved himself off the mast in order to stagger over to the edge of the ship and address Whiskers directly. The other Straw Hats froze as well, having been ready to throw themselves into the fight right after Whiskers' attack.
'That boy commanded that Sea King?!' The leader thought, his grip on his weapon's hilt loosening slightly, 'And… it's named Whiskers, of all things?'
"Gyara…" Whiskers rumbled, allowing the attack in his mouth to dissipate into nothingness.
"Fighting isn't going to do anything but make them more scared, and it'll get everyone else hurt as well!" Spruce continued, his voice desperate, "Vivi wouldn't want you to do that!"
"No, I wouldn't!"
When Vivi spoke, and sat up as she did so, all eyes were instantly on her.
"Don't worry about me, it was just a scratch!" She assured the gathered Straw Hats, giving a strained smile as she did so. Beside her, Nami breathed a sigh of relief, and as did Sanji from where he was standing. Her reassurances seemed to pacify both Luffy and Whiskers, with the latter allowing a few feet of himself to sink back down into the water.
Then, as if it was now his turn since Vivi was alright, Spruce proceeded to topple over and collapse on the deck. At the sound of his body hitting the deck, Pex and Ria both came rushing up through the hatch in a frenzy, with the latter dashing over to his side, while the former flew through the air to hover just in front of the leader's face.
"SPRUCE!" Nami said, hurrying over to check on him. Beside her, Ria placed a paw flat against his shoulder.
"RAVIA!" Pex begged of the leader, who took a step away from the bird while his eyes remained fixed on the sight of the collapsed Spruce.
'First the Sea King, now these animals as well?' He thought.
"PLEASE!" Vivi yelled, prostrating herself on the deck before all the onlookers, "WE WON'T STEP FOOT ON YOUR ISLAND, BUT PLEASE SEND US A DOCTOR! OUR CREWMATE IS VERY SICK, PLEASE HELP US!"
The blood from her wound continued to drip through her torn jacket and onto the deck, though she paid the injury no mind.
Everything that had happened in the span of just the past few seconds had left Luffy without words, as the captain stood there and watched Whiskers' rage be quashed by his trainer's words, said trainer collapse on the deck, and then Vivi try to negotiate with the inhabitants of the island for the sake of his crewmate's life. He watched the princess' eyes glance over in his direction expectantly.
"I'M SORRY." Luffy shouted, looking straight ahead at the civilians, "PLEASE, FORGIVE ME."
Following Vivi's lead, he pressed his forehead against the deck right beside her.
"PLEASE CALL A DOCTOR. PLEASE, HELP OUR FRIEND." He begged.
Pex turned around in the air to stare at the sight of Luffy prostrating himself. It was a sight that stunned the civilians at the water's edge into silence, many of them looking from the quiet Whiskers, to the sickly Spruce, to the undignified captain, and having nothing of their own to say. It was their leader who broke the tense silence.
"I'LL TAKE YOU TO THE VILLAGE." The man called out, already turning around, "COME WITH ME."
The relief was palpable aboard the deck of the Going Merry, as Nami and Sanji both helped Spruce up, being overseen by Ria as they did so, and half the crew prepared to disembark. Luffy raised his head up off the deck and looked at Vivi, who looked back at him with a relieved smile on her face.
"Sometimes a leader has to be willing to swallow their own pride for the sake of their people." Vivi said.
"Yeah." Luffy replied, "You're right."
However, for all that the tension had been diffused by the man's acquiescence, and for all it seemed that things were looking up for them, their journey could not reach such a simple resolution. For just as they stepped onto the snowy land of the island and prepared to follow him, the man gave them one last warning.
"But I should warn you," He said, "There's only one doctor in this country… and she's a witch."
The walk across the snowy landscape over to the home of the leader was a largely uneventful one. Some part of Spruce's mind registered, in particular, that it was a terrible shame he was too sick to enjoy meeting his first ever hiking bear. Of the Straw Hats, Usopp and Zoro both elected to remain behind aboard the Merry, along with Spinner and Carue as well, and keep watch over the ship while the rest of them were preoccupied with finding the island's doctor. Rather than remain behind as well, Whiskers had returned to his Pokeball to join his trainer, while Ria and Pex both stayed outside their Pokeballs, either trudging through the snow or flying overhead as they followed after the others.
"This is our village." The man said as he and the Straw Hats came upon a bustling village, with much of the crowd from the shore joining them as they walked through it.
There were even more bizarre creatures which seemed native to the frigid lands, as a black goat-like animal bearing a pair of majestic, curved horns wandered about, as well as something which looked like a hippopotamus covered in white fur, which was currently busy carrying around several unmarked wooden crates.
"There are some strange animals walking about here." Luffy remarked, peering out at all the various fauna on display.
Both he and Spruce had since donned apparel that was appropriate for the weather, with him wearing his own red winter jacket while Spruce borrowed a spare white one which belonged to Vivi. He had also been spared the labour of walking, as Sanji carried him on his back through the snow.
"Everything's really covered in snow, huh?" Nami said, "I guess this is what a winter island in the Grand Line really looks like."
As they crossed into the village, the man turned around to address the crowd of civilians who had come with them.
"Thank you, everyone." He said, "Except for those on guard duty, you can all go back to work."
"Will you be alright, Dalton?" One civilian asked, "They're pirates."
"I don't think they mean us any harm." The man- Dalton- said, "Trust me, I can feel it in my gut."
That seemed to satisfy the civilians, who were all quick to disperse, either laying down their arms and fanning out to different areas of the village, or diligently turning around and heading back in the direction they had come from. Many of them seemed relieved the moment the weapons left their hands.
"I didn't think they were real soldiers…" Vivi murmured.
"Hm?" Dalton said, his brow furrowing slightly, "What makes you say that?"
"They wouldn't have been so scared." Vivi said.
"What? But how could you tell they were scared?" Dalton frowned.
"Oh!" Vivi yelped, eyes instantly darting over to where Spruce was on Sanji's back, "Ummmm…"
Saving her from having to give an answer was the voice of a kindly, older woman, who happened to be walking by at that moment with a basket of groceries in one hand.
"Dalton!" The woman said, "I heard there were pirates here, are you alright?"
"Yes, everything's fine." Dalton said, "Don't worry."
"Dalton, I'm looking forward to the election in two days!" An elderly man called out, smiling warmly in their direction, "Everyone says they're voting for you."
"Oh no, I'm not worthy!" Dalton said, sounding slightly flustered at the attention. The elderly man just laughed and carried on his way, and Dalton and the Straw Hats carried on theirs. They reached a house which seemed to belong to Dalton, as he opened the front door and beckoned them inside.
"Put him on the bed over there." Dalton instructed, laying his weapon down against the wall and seeking out the fireplace, "I'll get the room warmed up."
Sanji laid Spruce down on the bed and helped removed his coat, before pulling the covers up over him and leaving him to rest. Pex perched himself at the foot of the bed, while Ria stood diligently at the bedside, and Nami took out a thermometer to check his temperature once again.
"I haven't introduced myself yet." Dalton realised, "My name is Dalton, I'm the protector of this island. Please forgive our hostile reception. May I ask a question?"
"What is it?" Nami said.
"Those… animals." Dalton said, gesturing to Ria and Pex, "Are they pets? They're not any species I've ever heard of."
"He wouldn't call them that." Sanji said, "He'd call them his friends."
"I see." Dalton said. Peering over at the thermometer in Nami's hands, his eyes widened, "His temperature is one-hundred and seven point six degrees?!"
"His fever's been steadily rising for three days." Nami said grimly.
"If it goes any higher, he'll die." Dalton warned.
"We know, but we don't know what the cause is or how to treat it." Nami said, "That's why we need a doctor."
"Where is this witch, anyway?" Sanji said.
"Do you see those mountains out the window?" Dalton asked, pointing at the window behind where Sanji and Vivi were both standing. They glanced back to look out the window he was pointing at, and saw the same flattened mountains which had been visible from across the ocean as they approached the island earlier in the day. And atop the highest mountain stood a castle, barely visible from down below.
"Those mountains are the Drum Rockies." Dalton explained, "And that castle atop the highest mountain? Right now, that's a castle without a king."
"I see it." Luffy said.
"What about it?" Vivi said.
"The only doctor in the country, Dr. Kureha, is called 'The Witch' by the people." Dalton said, "That castle is where she lives."
"Why would she want to live up there?" Sanji muttered, "Well- either way, call her down! This is an emergency."
"I'd like to, but that's not possible." Dalton said, "We have no way of contacting her."
"What?!" Nami cried, "What kind of a doctor is she?!"
"Her skills as a doctor are unmatched." Dalton said, "But she's incredibly eccentric. She's nearly one-hundred and forty years old."
"And she's still alive?!" Nami said.
"And she's rather fond of pickled plums…" Dalton added.
"What do people do here when they're sick or injured?" Vivi said.
"She comes down the mountain whenever she feels like it." Dalton said, "Then she looks for patients, treats them, takes whatever she wants in compensation, and returns home."
"She sounds just like a pirate!" Luffy said.
"If she thinks she'll give us the same deal, she has another thing coming." Nami said darkly.
"How does a woman that old get down the mountain in the first place?" Vivi said.
"It sounds strange, but I've heard that on moonlit nights, she rides a sleigh through the sky and comes down the mountain." Dalton said, "Some people even claim to have seen it, which is why they call her a witch. Others say she comes with a strange beast, like nothing anyone's ever seen before."
"We've had experience with a few of those, recently." Nami quipped, glancing over at Ria and Pex, and then at her own Pokeball hanging from her wrist.
"She's our only doctor, but we don't like to get involved with her if we can help it." Dalton said, "It's best to just wait here until she comes down the mountain."
For the first time since she had stepped foot on the island, Ria tore her eyes away from Spruce to glare at Dalton.
"Riolu!" She snapped, and the man flinched back at both the viciousness of her tongue and the fact she had spoken at all. He briefly glanced around to the Straw Hats, as if expecting similar reactions of surprise, only for her outburst to have been entirely brushed over.
"One doctor for an entire country makes no sense." Sanji said.
"And we can't afford to just sit around and wait for who-knows how long, waiting on this witch, either." Nami said. Such a sentiment seemed to be shared by Luffy, as the captain simply strolled over to where Spruce was resting and began tapping him on the side of the cheek.
"Hey, Spruce! Spruce!" Luffy said, much to the others' chagrin.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Nami and Vivi barked.
"RIO!" Ria growled, jumping up to slap Luffy's arm away. For all the good it did, though, as Spruce's eyes cracked open, and he looked at Luffy with a bleary gaze.
"Hhnmmnh…?" He mumbled.
"Listen." Luffy said, not beating around the bush whatsoever, "The only doctor here lives on top of a mountain. So we're gonna climb it."
"Are you insane?!" Nami screeched, "There's no way he could possibly do that in his condition!"
"It's okay, I'll carry him on my back." Luffy said.
"That'll just make him worse!" Vivi said.
"RIOLU!" Ria yelled, waving her arms around as she spoke and gesturing wildly at Spruce, "Riolu, Riolu! Lu Riol! Lu Lulu! Riolu!"
"Well he'll die without seeing a doctor, right?" Luffy replied, "And there'll be soft snow under him even if he falls."
"Luffy." Sanji interjected, before anyone else had a chance to yell, "As dire as things might seem, now's not the time for you to jump straight to the most reckless plan possible. Don't forget you'll be risking Spruce just as much as you'll be risking yourself."
"I can make it." Luffy said, completely certain.
"Even so, think about what other options are available to us." Sanji said, "Dalton says that they don't have a way to contact the doctor, but the same might not be true for us."
His words had the effect of confusing not only Luffy, but Nami and Vivi as well. After a second, though, the latter two's eyes both widened in realisation as they cottoned on to what he was saying, and they both looked towards the foot of the bed where Pex was perched. Following their gaze, Luffy also looked to Pex, and then he realised it as well.
"That bird?" Dalton said, disbelief clear in his voice, "You're suggesting sending that bird to carry a message all the way up to the top of the mountain?"
"More or less." Sanji said.
Like Ria, Pex had been fixated on Spruce throughout the whole conversation, and was only now really paying attention to what the others were saying. He blinked, and looked over to Ria, who gave him a nod.
"Riolu. Rio Riolu." She said firmly.
"Staravia…" Pex said.
"Are you sure?" Vivi said, "I can't imagine how freezing it must get at that altitude, not to mention the wind."
"Staravia!" Pex declared, sweeping his wings out dramatically and puffing his chest out.
'Just what kind of animals are these?' Dalton wondered, 'Are they somehow related to that monster that appeared six years ago?'
"Well, looks like it's decided." Sanji said, "Now all we need to do is write the message we want to send."
After what felt like an eternity spent sailing through the air, during which he had screamed his throat hoarse, Wapol's trajectory finally began to curve downwards. Unfortunately, the downwards curve directed him towards the massive expanse of water below, which was even worse than being in the air. Despite his scratchy throat, Wapol began to scream even louder as he crashed into the ocean and immediately began to sink, being rendered utterly helpless by his own power.
Just before he hit the water, though, Wapol caught a brief glimpse of white and pink. A ship of some sort, which among everything else going on, caused his stomach to start rumbling even as he was drowning. He thrashed about in the water, trying desperately to keep his head above the surface, and in the couple of seconds which he was able to buy himself, he looked over at the ship which- were he able to swim- was just a short swim away. The pink he had seen came from the ship's sails, which had 'OKAMA WAY' written on them, while the white came from the hull and the ship's swan-shaped figurehead.
"WAS THAT A PERSON?!" Wapol heard a voice yell out from the ship's deck.
"THEY'RE DROWNING!" Yelled another.
It was a very astute observation on their part. Anything else yelled after that escaped Wapol's notice, as his head sank into the water, his flailing having done all it could. He continued to flail, having no other option unless he wanted to simply accept his watery demise, all while staring up at the light of the sky above, blurry as it was. With every passing moment, that light grew further away, and his flailing grew weaker. His lungs burned.
Then there was a tug on his shoulder. And another. Two tugs- fishing hooks, snagging him and yanking him back up out of the water and into the open air. As soon as he was saved, Wapol's mouth opened up as wide as it could, and he gasped down air desperately, not even paying attention to what was going on around him as the two fishing lines reeled him in. He was still gasping and panting for air as his feet touched down on solid ground, and he collapsed onto the deck of the ship.
A small crowd had gathered around Wapol, made up of people who were bizarrely ordinary for being on such a bizarre ship. They all seemed like just a band of stereotypical pirates, dressed and acting normally for their profession, and interested in the new arrival. Their seeming normality may have perhaps been the result of their leader, an individual who was not quite man nor woman, and whose oddity would make anyone else seem mundane in comparison.
The person known as Mr. 2 Bon Clay stood tall and proud, his hairy, nimble legs left bare for all the world to admire, while being framed by a pair of delightful pink ballet shoes. He wore short, bulging blue pantaloons which left most of his thighs exposed, and which his long pink overcoat even had to curve around slightly. A pair of swans decorated his shoulders and framed his head, with their beaks pointed outwards in the same direction as a pair of feathered wings, while a similar design marked the blue shirt he wore, with the two swans on the shirt shaped to resemble the number 2. To bring the whole look together, his face had an extensive amount of makeup applied to it.
Mr. 2 was also one of the few people on the ship not currently focused on Wapol, as he instead had his attention taken up by the otter and vulture currently standing before him. The animal duo wore matching pairs of sunglasses, and the otter was in the middle of handing various sheets of paper to him, with each one being a different sketch of faces that Wapol knew.
"Those pirates…" Wapol rumbled, rising to his feet as a dark glare overtook his face. His voice, hoarse as it was, drew Mr. 2's attention. He looked over at Wapol, just as Wapol stomped his way across the deck, shoving through any of the other crew onboard, in order to snatch the picture in Mr. 2's hand- a picture of a boy in a straw hat, with a scar under his left eye.
"I'M GONNA KILL THOSE PIRATES!" Wapol roared, ripping the sketch into shreds and then stuffing those shreds into his mouth. He licked his fingers clean for good measure, too.
The otter and the vulture stared at the enormous, metal-plated mouth which their sketch had just vanished into. It was impossible to tell what they were thinking, with their eyes concealed behind the sunglasses they wore.
"Oh?" Mr. 2 said, causing Wapol's head to jerk up as he finally registered that he was on someone else's ship, "You know these pirates, do you?"
Everyone stepped outside into the cold to watch as Pex, with the rolled up note tied securely around his leg, took off. His feathery black form quickly shrank into a distant dot amidst the sheer white which surrounded him, and so there was nothing left that those down below could do. Luffy was the first to walk off, as he began gathering up the surrounding snow to start working on a sizeable snowman.
One of their number had not actually stepped outside to see Pex off, as Ria had remained by Spruce's side throughout it all, seemingly having resumed her meditation. But as everyone else lingered outside, even after Pex was long gone, Dalton raised an eyebrow.
"What's the matter?" He asked, "Come inside, you three. It's cold out here."
"That's alright." Vivi said, "I'll stay out here for a while."
"Me too." Nami said.
"Me three." Sanji said, "The passion of my heart burns hot enough to keep me warm, anyway."
Dalton eyed them for a moment, before breaking out into a relaxed smile and sitting down beside the three of them.
"I see. Then I'll keep you company." He said.
Together, the four of them stared up at the white, snowy sky and the mountain that stood before it. A silence hung in the air, before Dalton decided to be the one to break it.
"We had them, long ago." He said.
"Huh?" Vivi said.
"Doctors." He clarified, "But circumstances forced them to leave. It was only a few months ago that this country was destroyed by pirates."
"What?!" Nami said.
"No wonder those people were all so scared at our arrival." Sanji said.
"Yes, even the mere mention of pirates makes us uneasy." Dalton nodded, "There were only five pirates. The captain called himself Blackbeard. Still, they were indescribably powerful, and they crushed us before we even knew what was happening."
"Only five pirates?!" Vivi gasped.
'Five pirates…' Nami thought, glancing over in the direction of where Luffy was making his super snowman.
"Blackbeard, huh…" Sanji murmured.
"Some people around here actually think it was a good thing." Dalton said.
"What?!" Vivi hissed, "What could be good about a country being destroyed?!"
"Who could say such a heartless thing?!" Nami demanded, fists balling up in rage.
At both ladies' intense anger, Dalton bowed his head slightly, staring down at the snow for a moment before speaking up again.
"Until those pirates attacked, this country was ruled over by a king." He said, "Under his rule, the people were very unhappy. Back then, this land was called the Drum Kingdom, and the name of the king was Wapol. He was an utter disgrace of a king!"
"Wapol?" Nami said, her mind flashing back to the tin-plated tyrant who had assaulted them shortly before their arrival.
"Wapol!" Vivi said, flashing back to a time much longer ago, "I remember now!"
"That weird metal-mouth?" Sanji said.
"You know Wapol?!" Dalton said.
"Unfortunately, we do." Nami said, "He attacked our ship with a whole band of pirates backing him up. Actually, he did say something about the Drum Kingdom, now that I think about it…"
"I remember him clearly now." Vivi said, "When I was a child, my father took me to a meeting of kings, and I met him there."
"A meeting of kings?!" Dalton said, eyes widening, "Just who exactly-!"
"Oh- no!" Vivi interjected hastily, "I mean- anyway, I met this Wapol. Our encounter with him was yesterday, on our way here."
"Is that so?" Dalton muttered.
"What's going on with this country?" Sanji asked, "It was destroyed by pirates, and now the king's off galivanting and pillaging ships as a pirate?"
"The pirate part is a cover." Dalton said, "In reality, Wapol is scouring the seas in search of this very island."
"Then those other men on his ship were soldiers that the pirates defeated and drove off the island?" Vivi guessed.
"Defeated?" Dalton scoffed, eyes quickly filling with bitterness, "What a joke! When the pirates arrived, Wapol's army didn't even try to fight!"
"Huh?"
"When Wapol and his men realised how strong those pirates truly were," Dalton spat, "they abandoned this nation to its fate without a second thought! They fled like rats from a sinking ship!"
FWOOMF!
Both Dalton and Vivi paused, the bitterness and anger bubbling up in them being quashed momentarily at the sound of an enormous mass of snow collapsing. They looked over to see Luffy, standing in the middle of what had been his super snowman before he crushed it into pulp with his bare hands. His fists shook from how hard he was clenching them, and his head snapped up to look over at Dalton with such ferocity that the man was briefly stunned.
"You mean those guys were just faking at being pirate?" Luffy hissed, "The whole thing was just for show?"
"I- um- Yes." Dalton nodded, "I've gotten to know Wapol well, he would never trade the privileged life of a king for the perilous life of a pirate as long as he had a choice."
The answer did nothing but sour Luffy's mood further.
"Luffy…" Nami murmured.
"THAT FLAG!" Luffy snapped, "A PIRATE'S FLAG ISN'T SOMETHING JUST FOR SHOW! IT'S A SYMBOL OF PRIDE, AND PUTTING YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE TO BE FREE! A bunch of cowards like those… THEY DON'T DESERVE TO HAVE THAT FLAG!"
"Well there's not much that yelling about it can do." Sanji said, "Maybe if we're lucky, he went and drowned after the fish blasted him off our ship."
"Drowned…?" Dalton said, "A fish blasted him?"
"Yeah…" Luffy said, "Man, now I kinda wish that I got the chance to punch him while he was still attacking us!"
"Who knows?" Sanji shrugged, "We may run into him again, if he's in the waters nearby."
"I should hope not." Dalton said, "Now that Wapol's gone, the people finally have a chance to rebuild. The restoration of the monarchy is the very last thing any of us want."
"It's just… despicable." Vivi said, "It's completely despicable for a king to abandon his people like that, especially in a time of need!"
"You won't find a single person here on this island who'll disagree with that notion." Dalton replied. Then, he turned his gaze up at the sky, where the snowfall had begun to fall even more heavily than before, "I wonder if that bird is alright…"
"Ria probably has a much better idea of what he's capable of than we do." Sanji said, "Though all the same, she could easily be underestimating the weather here."
"The weather is far from the most dangerous part of this island." Dalton said, "At least by flying rather than hiking, it can avoid running into any lapahns."
"Lapahns? What are those?" Nami asked.
"Carnivorous rabbits with the size and strength of bears, and the quickness of rabbits." Dalton said, "They attack in packs."
Nami and Vivi stared at him.
"And Luffy was going to have to make his way through those to get to the castle?" Vivi said in disbelief.
'He could probably manage it.' Sanji mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, 'Though he'd have to avoid fighting if he was carrying Spruce… I guess I could accompany him to fight them off, if Ria didn't end up taking that job herself.'
Having said his piece and vented some of the anger he felt, Luffy got to work rebuilding his destroyed super snowman, making it even more super than before by trying to shape the top of its head into a pompadour. The others continued to linger outside, with a silence hanging in the frigid air over them once more- though it would soon end up being broken by the kindly older woman from before, who came walking by once again.
"DALTON! DALTON!" The woman called, "I hear you're looking for the doctor!"
"That's right." Dalton said, "We just sent a message-"
"I heard!" The woman interrupted, "But the witch is over in the next town, right now!"
"WHAT?!"
"Forgive me, II made a terrible mistake!" Dalton begged, hands clutching the reins of his sledge tightly as the two goats pulling it thundered across the snowy landscape. His eyes were fixed on the terrain ahead, brows knitted together in concentration even as he spoke. Behind him, the other seats in his sledge were occupied by Luffy and Vivi together, with Ria standing between the two of them. Unlike the two humans whose eyes were open, hers were instead closed, and she looked to be as deep in concentration as Dalton was.
"I was told that the doctor came down from the mountain yesterday," Dalton continued, "so I didn't think that she'd come again so soon!"
"It's okay!" Vivi assured him, "You couldn't have known!"
"If only we had a way to tell the bird to fly there instead!" Luffy said, "I guess it's too late now."
"If the doctor is there in Cocoa Weed, then we'll have to ask her to return to Bighorn with us!" Vivi said, "Hopefully she'll be willing to do it…"
"I'm sorry." Dalton said, "If we just had more doctors…"
"Huh? What are you apologising for?" Luffy said, "It's not your fault or anything."
'Isn't it?' Dalton thought bitterly.
As they continued to speed across the snowy terrain, everything seemed normal. Vivi kept a firm hold on the side of the sledge, as if uneasy about somehow falling out, while Luffy's gaze constantly trailed over their surroundings, keeping vigilant for any possible threats. And Ria remained oblivious to everything, seemingly, keeping her eyes tightly shut.
Until she opened them, and they flashed a bright blue.
"RIOLU!" She yelled, startling the other three.
"What?!" Dalton said, "What is it?!"
"Ria?!" Vivi cried, but she wasn't the one who had the canine's attention.
"OLU!" Ria said, grabbing onto Luffy's coat desperately with one paw, while with her other paw she waved around in front of them in the direction of the village, "Lu! RIOLU OLU!"
For a moment, Luffy was confused. But understanding quickly settled in, and his gaze grew serious as he gave the Pokémon a nod.
"Dalt-guy." He said firmly, "Turn around."
"HUH?!" Vivi said.
"Begging your pardon?!" Dalton said.
"Turn around and take us back in the other direction!" Luffy said, "And hurry up!"
"What are you talking about, Luffy?!" Vivi said, "Cocoa Weed is where the doctor is!"
"I know that!" Luffy said, "But we need to turn around, right?"
He looked to Ria as he said it, and earned a nod in return, as she pointed straight ahead in the direction they were currently going. Vivi frowned as she glanced between the two of them, before letting out a sigh.
"Dalton, do as he says, please." She said.
"You want me to turn around?!" Dalton said, "Is there something back at Bighorn that you've forgotten?! Your friend needs to see the witch as soon as possible!"
"Just trust him!" She urged, "I know it might sound ludicrous, but still!"
"Nnngh… Alright." Dalton relented. Giving the reins a sharp yank, he steered the sledge and the pair of animals pulling it to make as sharp a turn as was possible without the whole thing toppling over entirely- and even then, they came dangerously close, with everyone having to lean to the side to try and counterbalance their own momentum. They skidded across the snow, kicking a lot of it up for several seconds, before they had finally performed a one-hundred and eighty degree turn and were on a course for Bighorn rather than Coco Weed.
Just as they began to move in the direction he desired, Luffy threw both his hands out in order to grab onto a tree on both sides of the sledge, while bracing his feet against the back of it. As they thundered through the snow back the way they came, Luffy's arms quickly began to stretch even more, offering little resistance to the mighty goats pulling them along, and Vivi's eyes widened as she caught on to what exactly was happening.
"Luffy, are you insane?!" She screeched.
Frowning, Dalton spared a moment to glance back at what Luffy was doing for himself, and he quickly donned an expression identical to Vivi's.
"Is that a Devil Fruit-?!"
"GUM-GUM…" Luffy bellowed, as the trees he had grabbed onto came dangerously close to being ripped out of the ground altogether.
"RIOLU!" Ria roared, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his midsection as tightly as she could.
"ROCKET!"
Luffy hopped up, and immediately shot forwards. His arms snapped back to their original lengths as he released his hold on the trees, with nothing holding him back as he sailed through the freezing air and the falling snow, with Ria holding onto him tightly throughout it all. Trees and animals passed him by down below, quickly becoming specks from how high up above the ground his own trajectory took him. Were he not gritting his teeth against the feeling of the winter winds whipping at his face like razors, Luffy would likely have been screaming in exhilaration.
Naming such a technique the way he did proved to be incredibly accurate, as he moved at speeds magnitudes faster than what the sledge had been going at previously. It didn't take long for a village to come into view down below, just as Luffy began to start falling properly.
"LU!" Ria screamed as loudly as she could over the roaring of the wind in their ears, and she pried a paw away from Luffy's stomach to point to the far end of the village, where a light brown speck and a purple speck appeared to be just about to take their leave.
Though his eyes were scrunched shut from the wind, Luffy cracked them open briefly to look in the direction where Ria was pointing. The purple and brown specks rapidly came into view, as both an eccentrically dressed woman and the hat-wearing reindeer that accompanied her. The reindeer was tied up to a sleigh, which the woman had hopped into. If Luffy wasn't mistaken, he would crash into the snow about ten feet to their right.
Still in motion, Luffy threw an open hand out ahead of himself, squinting his eyes to ensure he was reaching in the right direction. The limb shot ahead of him and crashed into the snow just in front of the doctor and the beast, sending a spray of snow into both their faces and prompting the former to shield her face. Then, when she lowered her hand and saw what had caused the spray in the first place, her eyes narrowed as she traced the extended limb upwards just in time to watch its owner crash into the snow right across from her.
It was not a simple crash. As his extended arm retracted, he hit the ground with enough force to spray snow around him, while he himself bounced off the ground and skidded forwards. He tumbled and skidded through the thick layer of snow covering the ground, drenching himself and ensuring that no part of him was left untouched, and part of him registered the feeling of Ria losing her grip and flying off from his back before he finally came to a stop. He was cold and wet, but otherwise unharmed. The benefits of being immune to blunt force trauma, one supposed.
The doctor had started yelling something at him the moment he landed, but the snow had gotten in his ears and he was unable to hear her. Only when he sat up and shook it out did her words start to register.
"-KIND OF SUICIDAL IDIOT-?!"
As she yelled, she had hopped up from her sleigh and stomped over towards where Luffy now was, eyes blazing with fury. And now that he was seeing her for himself, Luffy could appreciate what an oddity she seemed to be, even by his standards. If one were to give the doctor a once-over from the feet upwards, it would not be until they got past her neck that they would possibly be able to guess her age with a semblance of accuracy. Her figure matched that of Nami, or Vivi, or any other fit young woman Luffy had encountered by that point, and what little exposed skin she bore- particularly her bare midriff with a golden navel piercing- was as clear and smooth as those women too.
It was when one got to the doctor's face that her true age actually showed itself. The skin there was wrinkled like one would expect of an elderly woman, meshing well with her faded grey hair and prominent chin. Her navel piercing was to be expected, as she had a wild glint in her eyes, though that glint was currently hidden behind a chilling glare.
Without even thinking, Luffy shifted around in the snow so that he could prostrate himself before the woman, just as he and Vivi had done earlier.
"PLEASE!" Luffy shouted- no, begged, "PLEASE SAVE MY FRIEND!"
While everyone else was busy either making way to Cocoa Weed, or flying all the way up to the doctor's castle, Sanji and Nami had ultimately gone back inside Dalton's home rather than continue to suffer the freezing outside. Neither seemed entirely sure as to what they should have been doing, as Nami sat herself down at Spruce's bedside, routinely sparing him glances to check that he was still as okay as he could be in his condition, while Sanji stood around with a cigarette between his lips.
"Sanji…" Nami piped up, her voice full of hesitation.
"Yes, Nami my sweet?" Sanji crooned, "Is something the matter? Are you hungry? Would you like me to fix you-"
"There's something I need to tell you." She said, cutting him off. Her voice was grim, and carried neither the exasperation or amusement that indicated she had the time for his particular attitude.
"What is it?" Sanji said, his tone quickly matching hers, "And why wait until we're alone to tell me?"
"It has to do with Alabasta, and the ongoing rebellion." She explained.
"Alabasta? What could you be hiding about Alabasta?" He frowned.
"There's a newspaper. Hidden in the third drawer of my desk." She said, "It was delivered before we arrived at Little Garden. The headline… was about three-hundred thousand members of Alabasta's royal army defecting to join the rebels."
A silence fell over the two of them, as Sanji's mouth opened and his cigarette slipped from his lips to the floor. Hastily, he stomped it out, before picking it up and looking around for an ashtray.
"Three-hundred thousand… out of how many?" He finally said, opting to just hold onto the wasted cigarette for the time being.
"Six-hundred. And the rebel army was four-hundred thousand strong beforehand." She replied.
"So in one fell swoop, the rebels go from being outnumbered to being over twice as strong as the kingdom…" He said, "Not to mention any tactical insight they may have gained access to."
"For a defection of that size, there must have already been underlying problems." She said pointedly, "Soldiers wouldn't jump ship to a losing cause, not those numbers."
"You're right." He agreed, "But, wait… You said you hid the newspaper? Why? Shouldn't Vivi-"
"What do you think would happen if Vivi knew?" She interjected, "The ship won't go any faster, and we still have Nanimonai waiting for us before we get to Alabasta. She'd spend that entire time wallowing in despair, helpless to do anything about it!"
"Even if you want to spare her feelings, Vivi still as a right to know about what's transpiring in her country!" He retorted, speaking with a firmness that was almost alien to her.
"I know!" She said, "I wasn't going to keep it hidden forever, just until we were nearly there."
"And are you telling me this because you wanted me to help keep the secret?" He said.
"No- Yes- Kind of." She said, "It's because of that Nosepass."
"The… rock?"
"I said that telling Vivi wouldn't make the ship go any faster," She continued, "but now that we're using that Nosepass to navigate instead of a Log Pose, we've cut out the recording periods from our overall travel time. Now, we're the ones who get to decide how long we stay on an island before leaving. That's days- maybe even weeks- that we've reduced the journey to Alabasta by."
"And Vivi mentioned possibly lingering here on this island to give ourselves a break." He said, "When in reality, the situation in Alabasta is far too dire for us to afford wasting any time."
"Yeah." She nodded, "So the reason I'm sharing this with you is because, well- I want to be able to convince Vivi that heading straight for Alabasta is the best course of action, without having to tell her about the soldiers defecting yet. And I might need you to help back me up."
With her request made, she looked imploringly to Sanji, who closed his eyes as he mulled the words over. He took a short breath in and blew a puff of air out, as if pretending he was smoking a cigarette, before opening his eyes and looking straight at Nami to deliver his answer.
"No."
"But-!"
"Specifically," Sanji said sharply, "I won't help you convince her while keeping the truth hidden. If, once our business here is finished, Vivi wishes to continue to Alabasta at full speed, then I'll abstain from telling her for now. But if she wants to give us time to rest here, then it's only right that she has all the facts before deciding that."
It was clear from how he spoke- so self-assured in spite of who he was speaking to- that it wasn't a course of action he would be swayed from. And shame quickly bubbled up in Nami's heart as she looked away from the chef, her eyes instead drifting to the floor, as she found that she didn't have anything more to offer in the way of a rebuttal anyway.
"Stand back."
Both Nami and Sanji looked up sharply, heads whipping over in the direction of the door at the sound of a third voice- fourth, if Spruce counted despite his silence- that came from the other side of the front door. Sanji made to move to check the source, but then quickly froze as he registered what the voice had actually said in the first place.
A wise choice on his part.
"I'M COMING IN!"
BAM!
With a great, thundering blow, the door was blasted off its hinges. It snapped itself around the impression of a fist which had struck it, causing two large wooden halves to slide across the floor as the freezing winter air flooded into the house from outside. Cold was the last thing on either of their minds in that moment, however.
'A fist?! No- a beautiful woman!' Sanji thought, as his eyes- initially drawn towards the fist which had struck the door in the first place- singled out the bosom behind the fist and immediately became captivated.
"Who are-?!"Nami began to ask, until her eyes settled on the woman's face, "Wait, are you Doctor Kureha?!"
"Kak Kak Kak!" Doctor Kureha cackled, "The one and only! You want to know the secret to my youthful appearance?"
The sound of the elderly voice with which she spoke, her distinctive laugh in particular, cued Sanji to notice her face, and his eyes promptly bugged out at the sight of her. He didn't even spare a passing thought for the hat-wearing reindeer that trotted in behind her.
"That's not really important right now!" Nami said, "Please, our friend is-!"
"No need to bust out the waterworks, girly." Kureha said, waving Nami off, "That rude rubbery brat already convinced me to come see him for myself."
"I guess you wouldn't be here otherwise, would you?" Nami muttered, more to herself than to Kureha, before a realisation struck her and she spoke up, "Er, would now be a good time to discuss the matter of the medical bill…?"
"The bill?" Kureha said, "Why would you want to discuss that now?"
A sinister smirk appeared on the good doctor's face as she leaned in towards the navigator, eyes glimmering with greed.
"Unless you think that I'm going to demand a payment that's worth even more than the life of your good friend…" She added.
Clenching her fists, Nami gave a half-hearted glare back but chose not to press the issue.
Instead, it was Sanji who decided to open his mouth in that moment.
"She really does look like a witch…" He mumbled.
Doctor Kureha's eyebrow twitched, as she slowly turned around to look at the chef.
WHAM!
"Just for that, I'm doubling the fee." Kureha deadpanned, turning back around from Sanji as he rubbed the side of his head. Nami's eyes widened, and she whipped around to glare at Sanji, who shrank away at the sight of her.
SMACK!
"Kak Kak Kak! " Kureha cackled again, "Now, as for my patient! This one sounds like it'll be a doozy. A fever that high, rising steadily for three days? I suppose you could only possibly find that on the Grand Line… Still, I can't treat him here, like this."
"You can't?" Nami said.
"Nope! If this one's going to have any chance of survival, then there's no other choice! Load him up, Chopper! This boy's going back up the mountain with us!"
For all that the current circumstances were dire, none of that did anything to stifle the sheer excitement bursting out in Luffy's voice as the ship drew closer and closer towards their next destination. From across the sea, even without the use of binoculars or a telescope, those on the deck could tell that the new island was mountainous, with flattened peaks decorating its silhouette on the horizon. That same silhouette was a stark white, in contrast to the greenery of Little Garden, just in case there had been any doubt as to what kind of climate would await them after all their time spent sailing through the surrounding frigid waters.
"It's so white!" Luffy cheered, sitting in his usual spot atop the figurehead, "It's snow! A snow island!"
"Just remember why we're here, Luffy!" Sanji said, "Adventure can come second to finding a doctor to take care of Spruce."
"Once we've found a doctor, we could probably just leave immediately." Nami said, "Since Spinner can lock onto the next island without having to record this one's magnetic field first."
"Well- you don't have to leave immediately." Vivi said, "Having control over the voyage to Alabasta is a reassurance, and I'd more than understand if you wanted to take a day or two as a break after such a stressful period."
The suggestion caused something to flicker in Nami's eyes- an uncertainty, and a sense of regret- and she almost spoke up to decline the offer, but stopped as Sanji spoke up again.
"It's no use. He's not listening" The chef muttered, describing Luffy who was now mumbling to himself about how great snow was.
Apparently, Usopp didn't quite agree with such a notion.
"Wait, are you sure it's safe?" He questioned, suddenly getting nervous as the island grew steadily closer, "If there's snow here, couldn't there be a snow monster?! Do we even know if there are people there at all?"
"Actually…" Sanji said, raising a hand to his chin in thought, "After Iron Island and Little Garden, it's possible that this could be Nanimonai Island."
"That's the island which Miss All-Sunday tried to direct us to, back in Whiskey Peak!" Vivi gasped.
"The island right before Alabasta." Nami nodded, "And chances are that Baroque Works have some kind of trap prepared for when we arrive there."
"Quack!" Carue quacked nervously.
"Igaram did say that there were probably only two or three islands between Whiskey Peak and Alabasta." Vivi said, "Even discounting Iron Island, since those circumstances were so odd, then that would mean either this island or the next will end up being Nanimonai."
"A hell of a time for our scout to be out of commission." Sanji deadpanned.
"I… think that my 'I-can't-visit-that-island-or-I'll-die-itis' is acting up again…" Usopp groaned.
"If it is Nanimonai, that would actually be a relief." Vivi mused, "It would mean that Alabasta is our next destination once we leave. Not to mention that with how long a Log Pose takes to reset on Little Garden, on top of all the dangers present, Baroque Works certainly can't be expecting us to have gotten here so soon."
"If there is a trap waiting for us, just know that I'll protect both you lovely ladies!" Sanji assured Nami and Vivi, giving them both a thumbs-up and a reassuring smile.
"What about me?!" Usopp cried indignantly.
As the others were preoccupied with discussions over what they could expect to encounter on the new island, and Luffy was still utterly enchanted by the concept of snow and the excitement of going somewhere new, it was Zoro who noticed as Pex swooped down from above. Returning from the direction of the island, he descended down through the open hatch to the men's quarters. A few seconds later, Zoro was vaguely able to make out the sounds of a pencil scribbling on a piece of paper coming from below. He raised an eyebrow, but otherwise paid it no mind.
"Well, whatever we're about to find waiting for us, we'll find it soon." Nami announced, "Prepare to make landfall, everyone!"
On that note, the crew did just that. Continuing on towards the island, the temperature did nothing but continue to decrease as they drew closer, and several of them found themselves shivering slightly even with the thick winter coats which they had donned. And as they reached the shores of the island and sailed inland, the majesty of the island became truly apparent.
"Those mountains sure are impressive." Sanji commented, his eyes widening at the sight of the peaks. The silhouette of the island against the skyline hadn't been deceptive, as behind pointed, snowy peaks, stood rows of circular mountains with flat peaks that practically dwarfed their pointier brethren.
"And all that snow! This is great!" Luffy gushed, the only one among them seemingly unbothered by the cold, in spite of him only wearing his standard vest and shorts. Such disregard for the climate did not go unquestioned by his friends.
"Aren't you cold dressed like that?" Usopp said.
"It's fourteen degrees out." Nami remarked, "Bears get ready to hibernate at those temperatures."
"Huh?" Luffy blinked, glancing over in Usopp's direction, "Oh, uh… It's cold!"
In an instant, the captain began to shiver uncontrollably, and his teeth chattered in the same fashion. His hands sought out his bare arms and began vigorously rubbing up and down, trying to create as much heat as possible, and he shrank in on himself.
"YOU JUST NOTICED?!" Sanji and Usopp exclaimed in unison.
Hopping down off the figurehead, Luffy hurried over in the direction of the men's quarters, intent on climbing down and grabbing his own coat- only to end up running right into Spruce, who had just climbed up through the hatch himself. Both pirates bounced off each other, with Spruce stumbling back and almost tripping back down the hatch again. Luffy quickly reached out to steady him, having only taken a step back himself.
"Hey, Spruce." Luffy said, "What's up?"
It was a wonder that the trainer had managed to make his way out of the bed and onto the deck like he had, as his condition hadn't improved whatsoever from how he had been the night before. His face was red and his eyes were slightly unfocused, and his skin was clammy all over. Like Luffy, his manner of dress didn't suit the current climate at all, being clad in just his typical tattered shirts and shorts which, honestly, didn't fit any climate with the condition they were in. He was clutching a piece of paper with a scribble on it in his hand, though that detail was of little relevance to the others who had just noticed that Spruce had come up.
"Spruce!" Vivi chastised lightly, hurrying over to him and looking him up and down, her concern flaring up at his condition, "What are you doing, you should be resting!"
"What are you doing dressed like that?!" Nami said, "It's freezing out here!"
"But… isn't the problem that my body is too hot…?" Spruce mumbled, though he didn't appear to be shivering in the slightest, "Being cold is a good thing, right?"
"Yeah, that makes sense." Luffy said, "Maybe if you went for a swim, that would help even more?"
"That's not how it works, you idiots." Nami ground out, "Put on something warm before you freeze to death."
"I don't really have anything warmer. Or anything colder, either." Spruce said. Both Nami and Vivi stared at him, mulling his words over.
"I have a coat you can borrow, come on." Vivi said, grabbing his hand and trying to lead him over to the women's quarters, only for Spruce to gently tug his hand from her grip and face Luffy once more.
"Wait." Spruce said, his eyes focusing as he held the sheet of paper out for Luffy to take, "The reason I came up was because I had to warn all of you."
"Warn us? About what?" Sanji said, suddenly alert and glancing at the surrounding land, "Is it Baroque Works?"
"No, I don't think so." Spruce shook his head, "But there's a big crowd of people waiting for us in the direction we're going. And they're really angry, and really scared, so I had Pex fly over to scout ahead, and apparently they're all carrying around these things."
As Luffy took the piece of paper from Spruce, the trainer pointed at the specific drawing on it. It was a scribbly mess, looking how one would expect any drawing done by a bird to look, but it nonetheless conveyed the basic details of the object. Long and narrow, like a stick, with a small, curved protrusion near one end. Peering over Spruce's shoulder, Vivi's eyes immediately widened as she looked at it.
"Spruce, that's a gun." Vivi said.
"Is it? That's like that thing that the bomb guy was using, right?" Spruce said, "They don't look very similar though."
"There's an army waiting for us with guns?!" Usopp screeched, dashing over to Zoro and hiding behind him, "M-M-Maybe we can try our luck with the island after this one!"
"If it was Baroque Works, I don't see why they'd be scared while having such an advantage over us." Sanji said, "What's more likely is that it's the inhabitants of the island who want to try and defend themselves from us."
"Why would they want to defend against us?" Luffy said.
None of the others said anything. They all stared at Luffy, before Nami, Sanji and Usopp all pointed in unison up at the jolly roger which the ship was flying. Vivi glanced up at the flag was well, looking contemplative.
"Perhaps… it would be a good idea to take the flag down, just for the time being?" She suggested, "If we raised a white flag instead, it would at least be an indicator that we mean no harm."
"What?!" Luffy cried, "No way! We're not taking our pirate flag down!"
"But-!" Vivi began.
"A flag is a pirate's pride! If we took it down because we were scared of getting into a fight, we'd be nothing but a bunch of cowards!" Luffy said, cutting her off furiously, "If those people are scared because we're pirates, then we'll just explain that we need a doctor!"
"You shouldn't let your pride get in the way of-!" Vivi began, only to be cut off by Spruce this time.
"It's okay, Vivi." He said, his voice quiet, "I wouldn't want to ask anyone to do something they weren't okay with. I'm sure if you just explain things to them, they'll understand."
"It's too late to argue about it anymore, anyway." Zoro added. Everyone stiffened up at the statement, as the ship had indeed sailed far enough inland for them to have finally reached the assembled party waiting for them on the island itself.
Up ahead was a waterfall of melting snow, a beautiful sight and a perfect place for the ship to dock nearby, but Nami could hardly appreciate such a thing when her attention was focused on the dozens of people flanking the ship from all sides. They were dressed similarly to the Straw Hats, layered up with thick and woollen winter coats, hats and scarves to keep themselves warm, and they were armed to the teeth, with the lot of them having the barrels of their various firearms aimed at those on the deck.
"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU PIRATES."
The voice which spoke came from one man in particular who towered over his contemporaries. His build was strong, something which one could tell even through his own thick green coat that he wore, with metal plating over the sleeves. Strapped to his back was a large weapon of some sort, a bladed implement of which only a tiny sliver of the metal blade peeked out of the sheath. While those around him looked livid, with burning anger serving to mask underlying terror, the man himself had a stony expression. He glared at the Straw Hats all the same, but his emotions were far more restrained.
"TURN YOUR VESSEL AROUND, AND LEAVE NOW!" The man continued. His voice thundered, but it remained as controlled as his expression.
"Definitely not Baroque Works, then." Nami said.
"They look pretty nasty." Usopp noted.
From the lot of them, it was Luffy and Vivi who approached the taffrail in order to speak to the crowd directly. As they did, Spruce's body sagged slightly, and he leaned himself against the ship's mast for support.
"WE CAME HERE TO FIND A DOCTOR!" Luffy yelled at them.
"WE HAVE A SICK PERSON ONBOARD!" Vivi quickly added, gesturing behind her to Spruce.
"DON'T YOU TRY YOUR TRICKS ON US, DIRTY PIRATES!" Came a scream from amongst the people gathered. In contrast to their apparent leader, the voices of the rest of them were shaky and filled with utter vitriol.
It was clear that the words from both of them- Vivi in particular- had bounced off of their enraged exteriors completely. Though their leader's eyes did flick over to Spruce, narrowing slightly as he saw the way that the boy leaned against the mast for support, not to mention the sight of his clammy skin and reddened forehead.
"THIS IS OUR COUNTRY! WE'LL LET NO PIRATE SET FOOT HERE!" Another person roared.
"NOW RAISE YOUR ACHOR AND GO! OF WE'LL BLAST YOUR SHIP FROM THE WATER!"
"They really don't like us." Sanji observed, "And we only just met."
"DON'T TALK! GO!"
BLAM!
With a yell of surprise, Sanji jumped out of the way as a bullet pierced through the deck just beside where he'd been standing, courtesy of an especially aggressive civilian.
"THEY FIRED ON US!" Usopp cried.
"How dare you?!" Sanji growled, glancing up at the man who had fired the shot and directing a glare his way. The anger in the chef's eyes found itself mirrored by the man, who kept the barrel of his weapon trained on him. Sanji made to take a step forwards, as if to leap through the air and attack the man, but Vivi dashed over and planted her hands on his shoulders to stop him.
"Wait, Sanji!" Vivi urged.
BLAM!
It was hard for any observers to tell exactly where the next bullet hit exactly. As the sound was still ringing in their ears, Vivi fell to the deck with a spurt of crimson blood shooting into the air from a newly acquired wound. All of it happened so fast that it wasn't until Vivi had fallen did anyone actually realise what had just happened. None of them were happy. Even the man who had just shot her seemed surprised at it himself.
"VIVI!" Nami shrieked, throwing herself down at Vivi's side as she frantically searched for the wound.
"YOU JERKS!" Luffy bellowed, fury igniting in his eyes in an instant.
But the anger from everyone currently standing on solid ground paled in comparison to the miasma of rage suddenly wafting out from the frigid waters- practically boiling them.
"GYARADOOOOOOOOOS!"
With a primal roar, Whiskers burst out from beneath the water's surface in an instant, sending spray flying in every direction. Many of the civilians gathered by the water's edge recoiled away from his sudden appearance, and a number of them didn't even process what he actually was. A mass of red and yellow that towered over everyone present, and whose cry rattled their very bones.
Briefly, Whiskers' eyes flickered over in the direction of Vivi lying, motionless, on the deck, with her white coat being stained by blood to match the pigment of his own scales. He saw the sight of a terrified Nami at her side, and then he looked across the deck to see Spruce struggling to remain upright. Then he turned his attention to the civilians gathered at the edge of the water, loaded to the teeth, and he opened his mouth wide.
"IT'S A SEA KING!" One person yelled.
"IS IT THE PIRATES' PET?!"
Even the leader, who had seemed so unflappable and controlled, looked astonished at the sight of the sea serpent currently glowering at them. That astonishment only grew as he and everyone else watched a mass of water begin to collect within Whiskers' mouth, forming a tightly contained ball as he leaned his head forwards over them and aimed his mouth downwards.
He figured out before anyone else what exactly the serpent was doing.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" The leader screamed. Reaching back to grab the hilt of his weapon, he bent his knees and prepared to jump, while his body tensed in preparation for a particular transformation that would predate the action. Whiskers didn't seem to pay the man in particular any mind, preoccupied with venting his anger through his attack- but both man and Pokémon froze in their tracks as another voice joined the chorus of screams.
"WHISKERS, STOP IT!"
It was Spruce who screamed, and he shoved himself off the mast in order to stagger over to the edge of the ship and address Whiskers directly. The other Straw Hats froze as well, having been ready to throw themselves into the fight right after Whiskers' attack.
'That boy commanded that Sea King?!' The leader thought, his grip on his weapon's hilt loosening slightly, 'And… it's named Whiskers, of all things?'
"Gyara…" Whiskers rumbled, allowing the attack in his mouth to dissipate into nothingness.
"Fighting isn't going to do anything but make them more scared, and it'll get everyone else hurt as well!" Spruce continued, his voice desperate, "Vivi wouldn't want you to do that!"
"No, I wouldn't!"
When Vivi spoke, and sat up as she did so, all eyes were instantly on her.
"Don't worry about me, it was just a scratch!" She assured the gathered Straw Hats, giving a strained smile as she did so. Beside her, Nami breathed a sigh of relief, and as did Sanji from where he was standing. Her reassurances seemed to pacify both Luffy and Whiskers, with the latter allowing a few feet of himself to sink back down into the water.
Then, as if it was now his turn since Vivi was alright, Spruce proceeded to topple over and collapse on the deck. At the sound of his body hitting the deck, Pex and Ria both came rushing up through the hatch in a frenzy, with the latter dashing over to his side, while the former flew through the air to hover just in front of the leader's face.
"SPRUCE!" Nami said, hurrying over to check on him. Beside her, Ria placed a paw flat against his shoulder.
"RAVIA!" Pex begged of the leader, who took a step away from the bird while his eyes remained fixed on the sight of the collapsed Spruce.
'First the Sea King, now these animals as well?' He thought.
"PLEASE!" Vivi yelled, prostrating herself on the deck before all the onlookers, "WE WON'T STEP FOOT ON YOUR ISLAND, BUT PLEASE SEND US A DOCTOR! OUR CREWMATE IS VERY SICK, PLEASE HELP US!"
The blood from her wound continued to drip through her torn jacket and onto the deck, though she paid the injury no mind.
Everything that had happened in the span of just the past few seconds had left Luffy without words, as the captain stood there and watched Whiskers' rage be quashed by his trainer's words, said trainer collapse on the deck, and then Vivi try to negotiate with the inhabitants of the island for the sake of his crewmate's life. He watched the princess' eyes glance over in his direction expectantly.
"I'M SORRY." Luffy shouted, looking straight ahead at the civilians, "PLEASE, FORGIVE ME."
Following Vivi's lead, he pressed his forehead against the deck right beside her.
"PLEASE CALL A DOCTOR. PLEASE, HELP OUR FRIEND." He begged.
Pex turned around in the air to stare at the sight of Luffy prostrating himself. It was a sight that stunned the civilians at the water's edge into silence, many of them looking from the quiet Whiskers, to the sickly Spruce, to the undignified captain, and having nothing of their own to say. It was their leader who broke the tense silence.
"I'LL TAKE YOU TO THE VILLAGE." The man called out, already turning around, "COME WITH ME."
The relief was palpable aboard the deck of the Going Merry, as Nami and Sanji both helped Spruce up, being overseen by Ria as they did so, and half the crew prepared to disembark. Luffy raised his head up off the deck and looked at Vivi, who looked back at him with a relieved smile on her face.
"Sometimes a leader has to be willing to swallow their own pride for the sake of their people." Vivi said.
"Yeah." Luffy replied, "You're right."
However, for all that the tension had been diffused by the man's acquiescence, and for all it seemed that things were looking up for them, their journey could not reach such a simple resolution. For just as they stepped onto the snowy land of the island and prepared to follow him, the man gave them one last warning.
"But I should warn you," He said, "There's only one doctor in this country… and she's a witch."
-O-
"This is our village." The man said as he and the Straw Hats came upon a bustling village, with much of the crowd from the shore joining them as they walked through it.
There were even more bizarre creatures which seemed native to the frigid lands, as a black goat-like animal bearing a pair of majestic, curved horns wandered about, as well as something which looked like a hippopotamus covered in white fur, which was currently busy carrying around several unmarked wooden crates.
"There are some strange animals walking about here." Luffy remarked, peering out at all the various fauna on display.
Both he and Spruce had since donned apparel that was appropriate for the weather, with him wearing his own red winter jacket while Spruce borrowed a spare white one which belonged to Vivi. He had also been spared the labour of walking, as Sanji carried him on his back through the snow.
"Everything's really covered in snow, huh?" Nami said, "I guess this is what a winter island in the Grand Line really looks like."
As they crossed into the village, the man turned around to address the crowd of civilians who had come with them.
"Thank you, everyone." He said, "Except for those on guard duty, you can all go back to work."
"Will you be alright, Dalton?" One civilian asked, "They're pirates."
"I don't think they mean us any harm." The man- Dalton- said, "Trust me, I can feel it in my gut."
That seemed to satisfy the civilians, who were all quick to disperse, either laying down their arms and fanning out to different areas of the village, or diligently turning around and heading back in the direction they had come from. Many of them seemed relieved the moment the weapons left their hands.
"I didn't think they were real soldiers…" Vivi murmured.
"Hm?" Dalton said, his brow furrowing slightly, "What makes you say that?"
"They wouldn't have been so scared." Vivi said.
"What? But how could you tell they were scared?" Dalton frowned.
"Oh!" Vivi yelped, eyes instantly darting over to where Spruce was on Sanji's back, "Ummmm…"
Saving her from having to give an answer was the voice of a kindly, older woman, who happened to be walking by at that moment with a basket of groceries in one hand.
"Dalton!" The woman said, "I heard there were pirates here, are you alright?"
"Yes, everything's fine." Dalton said, "Don't worry."
"Dalton, I'm looking forward to the election in two days!" An elderly man called out, smiling warmly in their direction, "Everyone says they're voting for you."
"Oh no, I'm not worthy!" Dalton said, sounding slightly flustered at the attention. The elderly man just laughed and carried on his way, and Dalton and the Straw Hats carried on theirs. They reached a house which seemed to belong to Dalton, as he opened the front door and beckoned them inside.
"Put him on the bed over there." Dalton instructed, laying his weapon down against the wall and seeking out the fireplace, "I'll get the room warmed up."
Sanji laid Spruce down on the bed and helped removed his coat, before pulling the covers up over him and leaving him to rest. Pex perched himself at the foot of the bed, while Ria stood diligently at the bedside, and Nami took out a thermometer to check his temperature once again.
"I haven't introduced myself yet." Dalton realised, "My name is Dalton, I'm the protector of this island. Please forgive our hostile reception. May I ask a question?"
"What is it?" Nami said.
"Those… animals." Dalton said, gesturing to Ria and Pex, "Are they pets? They're not any species I've ever heard of."
"He wouldn't call them that." Sanji said, "He'd call them his friends."
"I see." Dalton said. Peering over at the thermometer in Nami's hands, his eyes widened, "His temperature is one-hundred and seven point six degrees?!"
"His fever's been steadily rising for three days." Nami said grimly.
"If it goes any higher, he'll die." Dalton warned.
"We know, but we don't know what the cause is or how to treat it." Nami said, "That's why we need a doctor."
"Where is this witch, anyway?" Sanji said.
"Do you see those mountains out the window?" Dalton asked, pointing at the window behind where Sanji and Vivi were both standing. They glanced back to look out the window he was pointing at, and saw the same flattened mountains which had been visible from across the ocean as they approached the island earlier in the day. And atop the highest mountain stood a castle, barely visible from down below.
"Those mountains are the Drum Rockies." Dalton explained, "And that castle atop the highest mountain? Right now, that's a castle without a king."
"I see it." Luffy said.
"What about it?" Vivi said.
"The only doctor in the country, Dr. Kureha, is called 'The Witch' by the people." Dalton said, "That castle is where she lives."
"Why would she want to live up there?" Sanji muttered, "Well- either way, call her down! This is an emergency."
"I'd like to, but that's not possible." Dalton said, "We have no way of contacting her."
"What?!" Nami cried, "What kind of a doctor is she?!"
"Her skills as a doctor are unmatched." Dalton said, "But she's incredibly eccentric. She's nearly one-hundred and forty years old."
"And she's still alive?!" Nami said.
"And she's rather fond of pickled plums…" Dalton added.
"What do people do here when they're sick or injured?" Vivi said.
"She comes down the mountain whenever she feels like it." Dalton said, "Then she looks for patients, treats them, takes whatever she wants in compensation, and returns home."
"She sounds just like a pirate!" Luffy said.
"If she thinks she'll give us the same deal, she has another thing coming." Nami said darkly.
"How does a woman that old get down the mountain in the first place?" Vivi said.
"It sounds strange, but I've heard that on moonlit nights, she rides a sleigh through the sky and comes down the mountain." Dalton said, "Some people even claim to have seen it, which is why they call her a witch. Others say she comes with a strange beast, like nothing anyone's ever seen before."
"We've had experience with a few of those, recently." Nami quipped, glancing over at Ria and Pex, and then at her own Pokeball hanging from her wrist.
"She's our only doctor, but we don't like to get involved with her if we can help it." Dalton said, "It's best to just wait here until she comes down the mountain."
For the first time since she had stepped foot on the island, Ria tore her eyes away from Spruce to glare at Dalton.
"Riolu!" She snapped, and the man flinched back at both the viciousness of her tongue and the fact she had spoken at all. He briefly glanced around to the Straw Hats, as if expecting similar reactions of surprise, only for her outburst to have been entirely brushed over.
"One doctor for an entire country makes no sense." Sanji said.
"And we can't afford to just sit around and wait for who-knows how long, waiting on this witch, either." Nami said. Such a sentiment seemed to be shared by Luffy, as the captain simply strolled over to where Spruce was resting and began tapping him on the side of the cheek.
"Hey, Spruce! Spruce!" Luffy said, much to the others' chagrin.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Nami and Vivi barked.
"RIO!" Ria growled, jumping up to slap Luffy's arm away. For all the good it did, though, as Spruce's eyes cracked open, and he looked at Luffy with a bleary gaze.
"Hhnmmnh…?" He mumbled.
"Listen." Luffy said, not beating around the bush whatsoever, "The only doctor here lives on top of a mountain. So we're gonna climb it."
"Are you insane?!" Nami screeched, "There's no way he could possibly do that in his condition!"
"It's okay, I'll carry him on my back." Luffy said.
"That'll just make him worse!" Vivi said.
"RIOLU!" Ria yelled, waving her arms around as she spoke and gesturing wildly at Spruce, "Riolu, Riolu! Lu Riol! Lu Lulu! Riolu!"
"Well he'll die without seeing a doctor, right?" Luffy replied, "And there'll be soft snow under him even if he falls."
"Luffy." Sanji interjected, before anyone else had a chance to yell, "As dire as things might seem, now's not the time for you to jump straight to the most reckless plan possible. Don't forget you'll be risking Spruce just as much as you'll be risking yourself."
"I can make it." Luffy said, completely certain.
"Even so, think about what other options are available to us." Sanji said, "Dalton says that they don't have a way to contact the doctor, but the same might not be true for us."
His words had the effect of confusing not only Luffy, but Nami and Vivi as well. After a second, though, the latter two's eyes both widened in realisation as they cottoned on to what he was saying, and they both looked towards the foot of the bed where Pex was perched. Following their gaze, Luffy also looked to Pex, and then he realised it as well.
"That bird?" Dalton said, disbelief clear in his voice, "You're suggesting sending that bird to carry a message all the way up to the top of the mountain?"
"More or less." Sanji said.
Like Ria, Pex had been fixated on Spruce throughout the whole conversation, and was only now really paying attention to what the others were saying. He blinked, and looked over to Ria, who gave him a nod.
"Riolu. Rio Riolu." She said firmly.
"Staravia…" Pex said.
"Are you sure?" Vivi said, "I can't imagine how freezing it must get at that altitude, not to mention the wind."
"Staravia!" Pex declared, sweeping his wings out dramatically and puffing his chest out.
'Just what kind of animals are these?' Dalton wondered, 'Are they somehow related to that monster that appeared six years ago?'
"Well, looks like it's decided." Sanji said, "Now all we need to do is write the message we want to send."
-O-
Just before he hit the water, though, Wapol caught a brief glimpse of white and pink. A ship of some sort, which among everything else going on, caused his stomach to start rumbling even as he was drowning. He thrashed about in the water, trying desperately to keep his head above the surface, and in the couple of seconds which he was able to buy himself, he looked over at the ship which- were he able to swim- was just a short swim away. The pink he had seen came from the ship's sails, which had 'OKAMA WAY' written on them, while the white came from the hull and the ship's swan-shaped figurehead.
"WAS THAT A PERSON?!" Wapol heard a voice yell out from the ship's deck.
"THEY'RE DROWNING!" Yelled another.
It was a very astute observation on their part. Anything else yelled after that escaped Wapol's notice, as his head sank into the water, his flailing having done all it could. He continued to flail, having no other option unless he wanted to simply accept his watery demise, all while staring up at the light of the sky above, blurry as it was. With every passing moment, that light grew further away, and his flailing grew weaker. His lungs burned.
Then there was a tug on his shoulder. And another. Two tugs- fishing hooks, snagging him and yanking him back up out of the water and into the open air. As soon as he was saved, Wapol's mouth opened up as wide as it could, and he gasped down air desperately, not even paying attention to what was going on around him as the two fishing lines reeled him in. He was still gasping and panting for air as his feet touched down on solid ground, and he collapsed onto the deck of the ship.
A small crowd had gathered around Wapol, made up of people who were bizarrely ordinary for being on such a bizarre ship. They all seemed like just a band of stereotypical pirates, dressed and acting normally for their profession, and interested in the new arrival. Their seeming normality may have perhaps been the result of their leader, an individual who was not quite man nor woman, and whose oddity would make anyone else seem mundane in comparison.
The person known as Mr. 2 Bon Clay stood tall and proud, his hairy, nimble legs left bare for all the world to admire, while being framed by a pair of delightful pink ballet shoes. He wore short, bulging blue pantaloons which left most of his thighs exposed, and which his long pink overcoat even had to curve around slightly. A pair of swans decorated his shoulders and framed his head, with their beaks pointed outwards in the same direction as a pair of feathered wings, while a similar design marked the blue shirt he wore, with the two swans on the shirt shaped to resemble the number 2. To bring the whole look together, his face had an extensive amount of makeup applied to it.
Mr. 2 was also one of the few people on the ship not currently focused on Wapol, as he instead had his attention taken up by the otter and vulture currently standing before him. The animal duo wore matching pairs of sunglasses, and the otter was in the middle of handing various sheets of paper to him, with each one being a different sketch of faces that Wapol knew.
"Those pirates…" Wapol rumbled, rising to his feet as a dark glare overtook his face. His voice, hoarse as it was, drew Mr. 2's attention. He looked over at Wapol, just as Wapol stomped his way across the deck, shoving through any of the other crew onboard, in order to snatch the picture in Mr. 2's hand- a picture of a boy in a straw hat, with a scar under his left eye.
"I'M GONNA KILL THOSE PIRATES!" Wapol roared, ripping the sketch into shreds and then stuffing those shreds into his mouth. He licked his fingers clean for good measure, too.
The otter and the vulture stared at the enormous, metal-plated mouth which their sketch had just vanished into. It was impossible to tell what they were thinking, with their eyes concealed behind the sunglasses they wore.
"Oh?" Mr. 2 said, causing Wapol's head to jerk up as he finally registered that he was on someone else's ship, "You know these pirates, do you?"
-O-
One of their number had not actually stepped outside to see Pex off, as Ria had remained by Spruce's side throughout it all, seemingly having resumed her meditation. But as everyone else lingered outside, even after Pex was long gone, Dalton raised an eyebrow.
"What's the matter?" He asked, "Come inside, you three. It's cold out here."
"That's alright." Vivi said, "I'll stay out here for a while."
"Me too." Nami said.
"Me three." Sanji said, "The passion of my heart burns hot enough to keep me warm, anyway."
Dalton eyed them for a moment, before breaking out into a relaxed smile and sitting down beside the three of them.
"I see. Then I'll keep you company." He said.
Together, the four of them stared up at the white, snowy sky and the mountain that stood before it. A silence hung in the air, before Dalton decided to be the one to break it.
"We had them, long ago." He said.
"Huh?" Vivi said.
"Doctors." He clarified, "But circumstances forced them to leave. It was only a few months ago that this country was destroyed by pirates."
"What?!" Nami said.
"No wonder those people were all so scared at our arrival." Sanji said.
"Yes, even the mere mention of pirates makes us uneasy." Dalton nodded, "There were only five pirates. The captain called himself Blackbeard. Still, they were indescribably powerful, and they crushed us before we even knew what was happening."
"Only five pirates?!" Vivi gasped.
'Five pirates…' Nami thought, glancing over in the direction of where Luffy was making his super snowman.
"Blackbeard, huh…" Sanji murmured.
"Some people around here actually think it was a good thing." Dalton said.
"What?!" Vivi hissed, "What could be good about a country being destroyed?!"
"Who could say such a heartless thing?!" Nami demanded, fists balling up in rage.
At both ladies' intense anger, Dalton bowed his head slightly, staring down at the snow for a moment before speaking up again.
"Until those pirates attacked, this country was ruled over by a king." He said, "Under his rule, the people were very unhappy. Back then, this land was called the Drum Kingdom, and the name of the king was Wapol. He was an utter disgrace of a king!"
"Wapol?" Nami said, her mind flashing back to the tin-plated tyrant who had assaulted them shortly before their arrival.
"Wapol!" Vivi said, flashing back to a time much longer ago, "I remember now!"
"That weird metal-mouth?" Sanji said.
"You know Wapol?!" Dalton said.
"Unfortunately, we do." Nami said, "He attacked our ship with a whole band of pirates backing him up. Actually, he did say something about the Drum Kingdom, now that I think about it…"
"I remember him clearly now." Vivi said, "When I was a child, my father took me to a meeting of kings, and I met him there."
"A meeting of kings?!" Dalton said, eyes widening, "Just who exactly-!"
"Oh- no!" Vivi interjected hastily, "I mean- anyway, I met this Wapol. Our encounter with him was yesterday, on our way here."
"Is that so?" Dalton muttered.
"What's going on with this country?" Sanji asked, "It was destroyed by pirates, and now the king's off galivanting and pillaging ships as a pirate?"
"The pirate part is a cover." Dalton said, "In reality, Wapol is scouring the seas in search of this very island."
"Then those other men on his ship were soldiers that the pirates defeated and drove off the island?" Vivi guessed.
"Defeated?" Dalton scoffed, eyes quickly filling with bitterness, "What a joke! When the pirates arrived, Wapol's army didn't even try to fight!"
"Huh?"
"When Wapol and his men realised how strong those pirates truly were," Dalton spat, "they abandoned this nation to its fate without a second thought! They fled like rats from a sinking ship!"
FWOOMF!
Both Dalton and Vivi paused, the bitterness and anger bubbling up in them being quashed momentarily at the sound of an enormous mass of snow collapsing. They looked over to see Luffy, standing in the middle of what had been his super snowman before he crushed it into pulp with his bare hands. His fists shook from how hard he was clenching them, and his head snapped up to look over at Dalton with such ferocity that the man was briefly stunned.
"You mean those guys were just faking at being pirate?" Luffy hissed, "The whole thing was just for show?"
"I- um- Yes." Dalton nodded, "I've gotten to know Wapol well, he would never trade the privileged life of a king for the perilous life of a pirate as long as he had a choice."
The answer did nothing but sour Luffy's mood further.
"Luffy…" Nami murmured.
"THAT FLAG!" Luffy snapped, "A PIRATE'S FLAG ISN'T SOMETHING JUST FOR SHOW! IT'S A SYMBOL OF PRIDE, AND PUTTING YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE TO BE FREE! A bunch of cowards like those… THEY DON'T DESERVE TO HAVE THAT FLAG!"
"Well there's not much that yelling about it can do." Sanji said, "Maybe if we're lucky, he went and drowned after the fish blasted him off our ship."
"Drowned…?" Dalton said, "A fish blasted him?"
"Yeah…" Luffy said, "Man, now I kinda wish that I got the chance to punch him while he was still attacking us!"
"Who knows?" Sanji shrugged, "We may run into him again, if he's in the waters nearby."
"I should hope not." Dalton said, "Now that Wapol's gone, the people finally have a chance to rebuild. The restoration of the monarchy is the very last thing any of us want."
"It's just… despicable." Vivi said, "It's completely despicable for a king to abandon his people like that, especially in a time of need!"
"You won't find a single person here on this island who'll disagree with that notion." Dalton replied. Then, he turned his gaze up at the sky, where the snowfall had begun to fall even more heavily than before, "I wonder if that bird is alright…"
"Ria probably has a much better idea of what he's capable of than we do." Sanji said, "Though all the same, she could easily be underestimating the weather here."
"The weather is far from the most dangerous part of this island." Dalton said, "At least by flying rather than hiking, it can avoid running into any lapahns."
"Lapahns? What are those?" Nami asked.
"Carnivorous rabbits with the size and strength of bears, and the quickness of rabbits." Dalton said, "They attack in packs."
Nami and Vivi stared at him.
"And Luffy was going to have to make his way through those to get to the castle?" Vivi said in disbelief.
'He could probably manage it.' Sanji mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, 'Though he'd have to avoid fighting if he was carrying Spruce… I guess I could accompany him to fight them off, if Ria didn't end up taking that job herself.'
Having said his piece and vented some of the anger he felt, Luffy got to work rebuilding his destroyed super snowman, making it even more super than before by trying to shape the top of its head into a pompadour. The others continued to linger outside, with a silence hanging in the frigid air over them once more- though it would soon end up being broken by the kindly older woman from before, who came walking by once again.
"DALTON! DALTON!" The woman called, "I hear you're looking for the doctor!"
"That's right." Dalton said, "We just sent a message-"
"I heard!" The woman interrupted, "But the witch is over in the next town, right now!"
"WHAT?!"
-O-
"I was told that the doctor came down from the mountain yesterday," Dalton continued, "so I didn't think that she'd come again so soon!"
"It's okay!" Vivi assured him, "You couldn't have known!"
"If only we had a way to tell the bird to fly there instead!" Luffy said, "I guess it's too late now."
"If the doctor is there in Cocoa Weed, then we'll have to ask her to return to Bighorn with us!" Vivi said, "Hopefully she'll be willing to do it…"
"I'm sorry." Dalton said, "If we just had more doctors…"
"Huh? What are you apologising for?" Luffy said, "It's not your fault or anything."
'Isn't it?' Dalton thought bitterly.
As they continued to speed across the snowy terrain, everything seemed normal. Vivi kept a firm hold on the side of the sledge, as if uneasy about somehow falling out, while Luffy's gaze constantly trailed over their surroundings, keeping vigilant for any possible threats. And Ria remained oblivious to everything, seemingly, keeping her eyes tightly shut.
Until she opened them, and they flashed a bright blue.
"RIOLU!" She yelled, startling the other three.
"What?!" Dalton said, "What is it?!"
"Ria?!" Vivi cried, but she wasn't the one who had the canine's attention.
"OLU!" Ria said, grabbing onto Luffy's coat desperately with one paw, while with her other paw she waved around in front of them in the direction of the village, "Lu! RIOLU OLU!"
For a moment, Luffy was confused. But understanding quickly settled in, and his gaze grew serious as he gave the Pokémon a nod.
"Dalt-guy." He said firmly, "Turn around."
"HUH?!" Vivi said.
"Begging your pardon?!" Dalton said.
"Turn around and take us back in the other direction!" Luffy said, "And hurry up!"
"What are you talking about, Luffy?!" Vivi said, "Cocoa Weed is where the doctor is!"
"I know that!" Luffy said, "But we need to turn around, right?"
He looked to Ria as he said it, and earned a nod in return, as she pointed straight ahead in the direction they were currently going. Vivi frowned as she glanced between the two of them, before letting out a sigh.
"Dalton, do as he says, please." She said.
"You want me to turn around?!" Dalton said, "Is there something back at Bighorn that you've forgotten?! Your friend needs to see the witch as soon as possible!"
"Just trust him!" She urged, "I know it might sound ludicrous, but still!"
"Nnngh… Alright." Dalton relented. Giving the reins a sharp yank, he steered the sledge and the pair of animals pulling it to make as sharp a turn as was possible without the whole thing toppling over entirely- and even then, they came dangerously close, with everyone having to lean to the side to try and counterbalance their own momentum. They skidded across the snow, kicking a lot of it up for several seconds, before they had finally performed a one-hundred and eighty degree turn and were on a course for Bighorn rather than Coco Weed.
Just as they began to move in the direction he desired, Luffy threw both his hands out in order to grab onto a tree on both sides of the sledge, while bracing his feet against the back of it. As they thundered through the snow back the way they came, Luffy's arms quickly began to stretch even more, offering little resistance to the mighty goats pulling them along, and Vivi's eyes widened as she caught on to what exactly was happening.
"Luffy, are you insane?!" She screeched.
Frowning, Dalton spared a moment to glance back at what Luffy was doing for himself, and he quickly donned an expression identical to Vivi's.
"Is that a Devil Fruit-?!"
"GUM-GUM…" Luffy bellowed, as the trees he had grabbed onto came dangerously close to being ripped out of the ground altogether.
"RIOLU!" Ria roared, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his midsection as tightly as she could.
"ROCKET!"
Luffy hopped up, and immediately shot forwards. His arms snapped back to their original lengths as he released his hold on the trees, with nothing holding him back as he sailed through the freezing air and the falling snow, with Ria holding onto him tightly throughout it all. Trees and animals passed him by down below, quickly becoming specks from how high up above the ground his own trajectory took him. Were he not gritting his teeth against the feeling of the winter winds whipping at his face like razors, Luffy would likely have been screaming in exhilaration.
Naming such a technique the way he did proved to be incredibly accurate, as he moved at speeds magnitudes faster than what the sledge had been going at previously. It didn't take long for a village to come into view down below, just as Luffy began to start falling properly.
"LU!" Ria screamed as loudly as she could over the roaring of the wind in their ears, and she pried a paw away from Luffy's stomach to point to the far end of the village, where a light brown speck and a purple speck appeared to be just about to take their leave.
Though his eyes were scrunched shut from the wind, Luffy cracked them open briefly to look in the direction where Ria was pointing. The purple and brown specks rapidly came into view, as both an eccentrically dressed woman and the hat-wearing reindeer that accompanied her. The reindeer was tied up to a sleigh, which the woman had hopped into. If Luffy wasn't mistaken, he would crash into the snow about ten feet to their right.
Still in motion, Luffy threw an open hand out ahead of himself, squinting his eyes to ensure he was reaching in the right direction. The limb shot ahead of him and crashed into the snow just in front of the doctor and the beast, sending a spray of snow into both their faces and prompting the former to shield her face. Then, when she lowered her hand and saw what had caused the spray in the first place, her eyes narrowed as she traced the extended limb upwards just in time to watch its owner crash into the snow right across from her.
It was not a simple crash. As his extended arm retracted, he hit the ground with enough force to spray snow around him, while he himself bounced off the ground and skidded forwards. He tumbled and skidded through the thick layer of snow covering the ground, drenching himself and ensuring that no part of him was left untouched, and part of him registered the feeling of Ria losing her grip and flying off from his back before he finally came to a stop. He was cold and wet, but otherwise unharmed. The benefits of being immune to blunt force trauma, one supposed.
The doctor had started yelling something at him the moment he landed, but the snow had gotten in his ears and he was unable to hear her. Only when he sat up and shook it out did her words start to register.
"-KIND OF SUICIDAL IDIOT-?!"
As she yelled, she had hopped up from her sleigh and stomped over towards where Luffy now was, eyes blazing with fury. And now that he was seeing her for himself, Luffy could appreciate what an oddity she seemed to be, even by his standards. If one were to give the doctor a once-over from the feet upwards, it would not be until they got past her neck that they would possibly be able to guess her age with a semblance of accuracy. Her figure matched that of Nami, or Vivi, or any other fit young woman Luffy had encountered by that point, and what little exposed skin she bore- particularly her bare midriff with a golden navel piercing- was as clear and smooth as those women too.
It was when one got to the doctor's face that her true age actually showed itself. The skin there was wrinkled like one would expect of an elderly woman, meshing well with her faded grey hair and prominent chin. Her navel piercing was to be expected, as she had a wild glint in her eyes, though that glint was currently hidden behind a chilling glare.
Without even thinking, Luffy shifted around in the snow so that he could prostrate himself before the woman, just as he and Vivi had done earlier.
"PLEASE!" Luffy shouted- no, begged, "PLEASE SAVE MY FRIEND!"
-O-
"Sanji…" Nami piped up, her voice full of hesitation.
"Yes, Nami my sweet?" Sanji crooned, "Is something the matter? Are you hungry? Would you like me to fix you-"
"There's something I need to tell you." She said, cutting him off. Her voice was grim, and carried neither the exasperation or amusement that indicated she had the time for his particular attitude.
"What is it?" Sanji said, his tone quickly matching hers, "And why wait until we're alone to tell me?"
"It has to do with Alabasta, and the ongoing rebellion." She explained.
"Alabasta? What could you be hiding about Alabasta?" He frowned.
"There's a newspaper. Hidden in the third drawer of my desk." She said, "It was delivered before we arrived at Little Garden. The headline… was about three-hundred thousand members of Alabasta's royal army defecting to join the rebels."
A silence fell over the two of them, as Sanji's mouth opened and his cigarette slipped from his lips to the floor. Hastily, he stomped it out, before picking it up and looking around for an ashtray.
"Three-hundred thousand… out of how many?" He finally said, opting to just hold onto the wasted cigarette for the time being.
"Six-hundred. And the rebel army was four-hundred thousand strong beforehand." She replied.
"So in one fell swoop, the rebels go from being outnumbered to being over twice as strong as the kingdom…" He said, "Not to mention any tactical insight they may have gained access to."
"For a defection of that size, there must have already been underlying problems." She said pointedly, "Soldiers wouldn't jump ship to a losing cause, not those numbers."
"You're right." He agreed, "But, wait… You said you hid the newspaper? Why? Shouldn't Vivi-"
"What do you think would happen if Vivi knew?" She interjected, "The ship won't go any faster, and we still have Nanimonai waiting for us before we get to Alabasta. She'd spend that entire time wallowing in despair, helpless to do anything about it!"
"Even if you want to spare her feelings, Vivi still as a right to know about what's transpiring in her country!" He retorted, speaking with a firmness that was almost alien to her.
"I know!" She said, "I wasn't going to keep it hidden forever, just until we were nearly there."
"And are you telling me this because you wanted me to help keep the secret?" He said.
"No- Yes- Kind of." She said, "It's because of that Nosepass."
"The… rock?"
"I said that telling Vivi wouldn't make the ship go any faster," She continued, "but now that we're using that Nosepass to navigate instead of a Log Pose, we've cut out the recording periods from our overall travel time. Now, we're the ones who get to decide how long we stay on an island before leaving. That's days- maybe even weeks- that we've reduced the journey to Alabasta by."
"And Vivi mentioned possibly lingering here on this island to give ourselves a break." He said, "When in reality, the situation in Alabasta is far too dire for us to afford wasting any time."
"Yeah." She nodded, "So the reason I'm sharing this with you is because, well- I want to be able to convince Vivi that heading straight for Alabasta is the best course of action, without having to tell her about the soldiers defecting yet. And I might need you to help back me up."
With her request made, she looked imploringly to Sanji, who closed his eyes as he mulled the words over. He took a short breath in and blew a puff of air out, as if pretending he was smoking a cigarette, before opening his eyes and looking straight at Nami to deliver his answer.
"No."
"But-!"
"Specifically," Sanji said sharply, "I won't help you convince her while keeping the truth hidden. If, once our business here is finished, Vivi wishes to continue to Alabasta at full speed, then I'll abstain from telling her for now. But if she wants to give us time to rest here, then it's only right that she has all the facts before deciding that."
It was clear from how he spoke- so self-assured in spite of who he was speaking to- that it wasn't a course of action he would be swayed from. And shame quickly bubbled up in Nami's heart as she looked away from the chef, her eyes instead drifting to the floor, as she found that she didn't have anything more to offer in the way of a rebuttal anyway.
"Stand back."
Both Nami and Sanji looked up sharply, heads whipping over in the direction of the door at the sound of a third voice- fourth, if Spruce counted despite his silence- that came from the other side of the front door. Sanji made to move to check the source, but then quickly froze as he registered what the voice had actually said in the first place.
A wise choice on his part.
"I'M COMING IN!"
BAM!
With a great, thundering blow, the door was blasted off its hinges. It snapped itself around the impression of a fist which had struck it, causing two large wooden halves to slide across the floor as the freezing winter air flooded into the house from outside. Cold was the last thing on either of their minds in that moment, however.
'A fist?! No- a beautiful woman!' Sanji thought, as his eyes- initially drawn towards the fist which had struck the door in the first place- singled out the bosom behind the fist and immediately became captivated.
"Who are-?!"Nami began to ask, until her eyes settled on the woman's face, "Wait, are you Doctor Kureha?!"
"Kak Kak Kak!" Doctor Kureha cackled, "The one and only! You want to know the secret to my youthful appearance?"
The sound of the elderly voice with which she spoke, her distinctive laugh in particular, cued Sanji to notice her face, and his eyes promptly bugged out at the sight of her. He didn't even spare a passing thought for the hat-wearing reindeer that trotted in behind her.
"That's not really important right now!" Nami said, "Please, our friend is-!"
"No need to bust out the waterworks, girly." Kureha said, waving Nami off, "That rude rubbery brat already convinced me to come see him for myself."
"I guess you wouldn't be here otherwise, would you?" Nami muttered, more to herself than to Kureha, before a realisation struck her and she spoke up, "Er, would now be a good time to discuss the matter of the medical bill…?"
"The bill?" Kureha said, "Why would you want to discuss that now?"
A sinister smirk appeared on the good doctor's face as she leaned in towards the navigator, eyes glimmering with greed.
"Unless you think that I'm going to demand a payment that's worth even more than the life of your good friend…" She added.
Clenching her fists, Nami gave a half-hearted glare back but chose not to press the issue.
Instead, it was Sanji who decided to open his mouth in that moment.
"She really does look like a witch…" He mumbled.
Doctor Kureha's eyebrow twitched, as she slowly turned around to look at the chef.
WHAM!
"Just for that, I'm doubling the fee." Kureha deadpanned, turning back around from Sanji as he rubbed the side of his head. Nami's eyes widened, and she whipped around to glare at Sanji, who shrank away at the sight of her.
SMACK!
"Kak Kak Kak! " Kureha cackled again, "Now, as for my patient! This one sounds like it'll be a doozy. A fever that high, rising steadily for three days? I suppose you could only possibly find that on the Grand Line… Still, I can't treat him here, like this."
"You can't?" Nami said.
"Nope! If this one's going to have any chance of survival, then there's no other choice! Load him up, Chopper! This boy's going back up the mountain with us!"
- Location
- USA
Awwwwww. No Drum climb? I mean yeah using Pex makes sense but still.
It's a bit of a shame, but as well as there not being as much in-story reason for it, it would also mean that everyone basically ends up in the same place as in canon, which I wanted to avoid doing here. That's also part of why I had Usopp stay with Zoro and Carue on the ship.
- Location
- USA
Usopp kinda getting the shaft so far.
Though in fairness, I dont recall him doing much on Little Garden or Drum in canon.
He was actually pretty relevant in Little Garden. I'm assuming that the oil they used to help melt the wax and free everyone came from him, since I'm not sure where else they would have gotten it from. So his role here was definitely reduced in comparison.
All he does in Drum is stand around, get slapped by Vivi, then try to carry Dalton before Zoro steps in and does it for him. All he's losing here so far is his participation trophy.
Chapter 17: Christmas Song
When Spruce awoke, he found himself almost immediately drifting back off to sleep again. As much as he felt better than he had in days, he nonetheless felt lethargic, and his body ached. It was the sight of the room around him that prompted him to sit up in the bed he was in, as rather than the warm and homely vibe of Dalton's home which he recalled resting in prior, he was now surrounded by what seemed to be someone's gothic laboratory inside of a castle. Various skulls of different sorts littered the walls, bookcases, and even medical equipment laid out on a desk near the opposite end of the room from where his bed was.
"Huh?" Spruce said, sitting up and looking around curiously, "Hello? Anyone?"
The only response that he got was silence, prompting him to close his eyes and take a deep breath. He opened them a second later with a flash of blue, and immediately shot out of bed. Ignoring any sense of lethargy in his body, he dashed over to the room's wooden door and threw it open. A blast of cold air hit him as he hurried through the doorway and into the halls of the castle, but he ignored that as well as he charged ahead through the building until finally coming upon a grand and sprawling throne room.
Gathered there in the throne room were all the Straw Hats, spread out around the room and all sharing looks of irritation or downright disgust directed at either Spruce himself, or at the two Pokémon lying in the centre of the room. Though Spruce didn't realise it as he charged in, Vivi and Carue were positioned by the entrance, and they both stepped inwards to block him off once he had come in. The main reason Spruce didn't realise this- or even notice the looks the rest of the crew were directing at him- was due to being too focused on the sight of the badly beaten and bleeding Ria and Pex lying before him.
Burn marks, gashes, bruises, broken bones… if Spruce was a detective, it wouldn't have been hard to figure out which band of pirates had done this. He rushed to the two's side, kneeling down and cradling the both of them as tears began to form in his eyes.
"R-Ria?! Pex?!" He gasped.
Their auras were practically just flickers.
"Looks like you woke up at last." Nami jeered, "Took you long enough, you worthless little worm."
"H-huh? Nami?!" Spruce whirled around, only just now seeming to register the presence of all the Straw Hats around him. All of them took a step towards him, forming a circle around him. Sanji took a drag of his cigarette, Zoro nudged Sandai Kitetsu an inch out of its sheath, while Luffy cracked his knuckles. All of it made Spruce shrink back into himself slightly.
"Did you really think we would keep putting up you after all this?" Zoro growled.
"Zoro?" Spruce said. His eyes flashed blue again, and he staggered to his feet and backed away from the lot of them, a look of terror quickly growing in his eyes. Instinctively, his hand drifted down towards his belt, seeking out Whiskers' Pokeball, but he found only empty space. Glancing down, he realised that all three of his Pokeballs were missing, and he looked back up to see Nami smirking at him as she clutched them in her hand.
"Looking for these?" She taunted.
"What is going on? Why are you all doing this?!" Spruce pleaded. He found himself backed up against the throne, and stepped to the side of it in order to half-shield himself behind it. The others had formed an arch, trapping him where he was and slowly closing in. Vivi and Carue remained by the entrance, watching on coldly.
"Didn't you see this coming?" Sanji scoffed, "You are such a shitty scout, and an even shittier trainer. We do not need someone like that on the crew."
"Shitty…?" Spruce mumbled, "But why would you- and Ria and Pex… Luffy?!"
Looking to the captain desperately, all Spruce got in return was complete and utter apathy from his frigid gaze. In some ways, it hurt more than the outright malice he was getting from everyone else.
"If I am going to become the Pirate King, I need to have the best crew possible." Luffy said, "You could not even beat that weak Mercu-lady on your own, and you almost let everyone be turned into wax back at Little Garden. You do not deserve to be a Straw Hat."
"There is no spot on the crew for a worthless scout who does not even evolve his own Pokémon!" Usopp added angrily.
"KAK KAK KAK! And to think I wasted a vaccine on the little brat when you were all going to toss him away like trash, anyway!"
Pushing through Vivi and Carue, Doctor Kureha sauntered on over to where the crew was encircling Spruce, who stood up a little straighter at the doctor's arrival. Hope flashed in his eyes, especially as the doctor revealed a scalpel and aimed its tip at Sanji's throat.
"You want the secret of my eternal youth?" She asked.
"No one was asking for that, you old hag!" Zoro snapped.
"Well, what is it that you are looking to do with my patient, then?" Kureha continued.
"We are going to kill him, for being so useless." Nami answered.
"WHAT?!" Spruce screamed. Kureha just nodded.
"That makes sense." She admitted, "But I cannot have you just killing my patients while they are under my care. No… I think I have something better in mind for everyone. CHOPPER, THE DOORS!"
The hat-wearing reindeer which accompanied Kureha on her outings also walked into the throne room, and butted his head against one of the bricks in the wall. It slid inwards like a button, with the sound of stone grinding against stone echoing all around the room. And then the entire room shook, and gears rumbled from behind the walls as part of the stonework slid apart to reveal a secret compartment concealed behind the wall.
A pair of sleek, golden doors stood, surrounded by gleaming white walls that almost matched the whiteness of the snow covering the mountains outside. The sight of the doorway surprised Spruce, enough so that Zoro was able to lunge forwards and grab a hold of him, seizing his arms and quickly pinning them behind his back.
"Wha- HEY!" Spruce cried, struggling desperately against the swordsman's grip of iron.
"What is that door?" Luffy said, "Is it a mystery door?"
"KAK KAK KAK!" Kureha laughed, "Not at all, that is the door to a place called the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Trying to survive in there is practically a nightmare, with the climate and the gravity messed up. But the real kicker is why it has its name in the first place. Time flows differently in there, so one day out here equals a whole year in there!"
"What?! That- that can't be real!" Spruce gasped, still struggling.
"So what you are saying is that if we toss him in and walk away, he will just waste away inside?" Nami surmised.
"I would be surprised if he was still alive by the end of the day." Kureha replied.
"Okay. Yeah." Luffy nodded, "We can lock him in, right?"
"Of course! Why else would I suggest it?" Kureha scoffed, "Open 'er up, Chopper!"
Without saying anything, Chopper simply grabbed onto the handle of one of the doors to the Time Chamber with his mouth and yanked it open, revealing a bright white void that seemed to stretch out beyond what the scale of the castle they were in should have allowed. The sight of the alabaster abyss before them left the Straw Hats momentarily transfixed, while Spruce's struggling only became more and more desperate.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF YOU?!" He screamed, "W-WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! WHY?! THIS MAKES NO SENSE! IT IS EXTREMELY OUT OF CHARACTER!"
His screaming seemed to remind the Straw Hats of what exactly they were doing. With a malicious smirk, Zoro and Sanji both strolled on over towards the open entryway into the Time Chamber, with the former hauling Spruce along with him as he did so. As they did, Luffy walked over to where Ria and Pex laid, sprawled out and defeated, and he picked the two of them up.
Spruce's protests continued to fall on deaf ears as Zoro and Sanji came to a stop in front of the entrance. The swordsman released his hold on the trainer, shoving him lightly forwards- only lightly, because it was Sanji who followed up with an absolutely brutal kick delivered straight to Spruce's stomach. Spittle flew from his mouth, accompanied by the air vacating his lungs, as he was sent flying back into the abyss. Before he'd even touched the ground, Luffy tossed the beaten forms of his Pokémon through the doorway to join him, with the set being completed by Nami throwing Whiskers' Pokeball in as well.
The four of them were helpless to do anything as the doors to the Time Chamber slammed shut before them, and then the stone wall closed itself back up in front of it. They were well and truly trapped. For all time.
With a start, Spruce shot up in his bed and looked around wildly. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness of the room he was in, before he was greeted with the reassuring sight of the inside of the captain's quarters on the Thousand Sunny. To his right was his study, with his desk and bookshelf tucked tidily away into the corner, and his Pokémon log securely in the middle draw of the desk.
There were covers resting on his lap. As he took in his surroundings, Spruce realised that they had been drawn up to his neck, because he'd been in bed. Luffy's bed. And indeed, when Spruce looked to his left, at the rest of the bed, he saw that the rubbery rabble-rouser was indeed sound asleep beside him. With the covers tugged back, the top of the x-shaped scar was visible. Across the bed from the captain, their other bedmates were sleeping equally as soundly. The Okama, Hyena and Berserker all appeared perfectly content.
'Probably having better dreams than I am.' Spruce thought to himself, shifting around and getting out of bed to walk over to the door, 'A hell of a lot more accurate too.'
Careful not to make a peep, he nudged the door open and stepped out onto the deck. Immediately he was met with a blast of freezing midnight air, along with the sound of waves rocking against the hull and the whiff of sea salt. All things familiar to him after the months spent sailing with the Straw Hats after leaving Drum. Because they had left Drum. They hadn't betrayed him.
A rustling of leaves and a faint- very faint- tapping of wood against wood caught Spruce's attention as he made his way over to the taffrail, and he whirled around expecting to find the crew's gardener joining him on the deck. But there was nobody, so he looked back out at the uncharacteristically tranquil ocean of the New World- and promptly recoiled away from a brushing of leaves against his side.
"GAH!" Spruce cried, which elicited a snicker from his attacker.
"Teeheehee… TAHAHA!" Shiftry laughed, beginning to hop from one foot to the other playfully, "The great and powerful Shiftry has not had the opportunity to surprise you for some time! Are you astonished by Shiftry's unparalleled talent for stealth?"
"You're not unparalleled, Usopp beats you any day of the weak." Spruce muttered.
"Ninjas don't count." Shiftry huffed.
"Whatever." Spruce said, "What are you doing up, anyway?"
"Should Shiftry not be the one who asks you that?" Shiftry retorted, "Shiftry does have the excuse of being a Dark-Type, after all."
Spruce sighed.
"A bad dream." He explained, "A weird one too. I… it was the crew, back on Drum Island, where we met Chopper. I woke up in Kureha's castle, and found everyone else waiting for me. They told me that I was- that I was useless, and so I had to be kicked off the crew."
It was hard to meet the Pokémon's gaze as he recounted the experience, so Spruce instead stared down at the inky surface of the water below. He could make out the reflection of his face, as well as the myriad of stars dotting the sky above them.
"Mhm…" Shiftry said, "Shiftry supposes that would be a rather uncomfortable dream to have. Perhaps you've been feeling insecure about your worth to the crew as of late? Dead weight?"
"No!" Spruce said, a little louder than he intended, "No. I haven't been- I'm not useless. I haven't felt useless since Marineford, and Akainu…"
The sight of charred blue and yellow fur, and a metal spike that had been melted to a stump, rose to the forefront of Spruce's mind. He shook his head, trying to focus on the rapidly fading images of his nightmare. Those, at least, he knew were fake.
"If you say so." Shiftry said. He seemed content to leave it at that, and joined Spruce in looking down at the water.
"Maybe…" Spruce piped up, once the silence had drawn on for long enough, "Maybe I do feel a little insecure. After those two years we spent training, I guess I wasn't expecting to encounter an enemy on the first island in the New World who could crush me and my team like we were nothing."
"Legendary Pokémon are cheating." Shiftry said, "For what it might be worth."
"There's no cheating in pirate battles." Spruce replied, "I learned that one before we left Iron Island. No, we had long enough since the first one- I had long enough- to have been ready. What good is the Pokémon Trainer if his training isn't good enough?"
"Well our captain doesn't have any better options than you." Shiftry said, "So you're more good than anyone else on the ship."
"That somehow doesn't make me feel better about things." Spruce deadpanned, before sighing, "Ria and Pex were both pretty badly beaten up in the nightmare. Barely still alive, after the crew were done with them. Think that's got a basis in reality too?"
The two of them both eyed the pair of Trust Balls that rested on Spruce's belt, having gone untouched long enough to have gathered a layer of dust on their surfaces.
"If she was battling at my side, with those two years behind her, how strong could we have been?" Spruce said bitterly, "Strong enough to take down a Legendary?"
"Maybe you could have, maybe not." Shiftry shrugged, "Shiftry certainly knows better than anyone just what kind of potential Ria was capable of… and Shiftry also knows that she would slap you if she knew you were wasting time whining about how weak you are now, instead of training to get as strong as you need to be."
Spruce turned to look at the Pokémon, who slapped him across the face with a leafy appendage.
"Besides." Shiftry added, "There's no point despairing that much when this is all just a dream, anyway."
"What?" Spruce said.
"What?"
Greeting Spruce when he awoke was the familiar sight of the blue sky seen through the veil of the leaves hanging overhead. Perched atop one of the branches was a Starly, and flying overhead there were a pair of Noctowl. The air had a distinct morning chill to it, though it was a chill that he was accustomed to, wasn't it? After all, he'd been sleeping out in the Eterna Grove for years, and it wasn't like he had ever left the island for a different climate, right?
"That was a weird dream…" Spruce mumbled to himself as he sat up, stretching his arms out and letting out a hearty yawn.
"-NEED TO WAKE UP, SPRUCE! WAKE UP!"
Spruce's eyes snapped open, and then shut themselves just as quickly as he found himself staring directly into a light overhead. He turned his head slight to the side and tried again, looking to the side to instead be met with the sight of a Nurse Joy and her Chansey, both looking awfully concerned. Looking past the two of them, he saw a young man sitting over by the wall, his hands folded neatly in his lap. The boy's hair was grey, and he wore a red beret atop his head, along with wearing a black vest with a yellow stripe running across the chest.
No- not the boy. Lucas. His name was Lucas, and Lucas was staring nervously at Spruce in the bed as he sat where he was. Turning and looking away from Lucas, Spruce instead looked to the foot of his bed, where he finally saw the source of the voice that had been calling out to him as he returned to a waking state.
The pink haired form of Maylene stood at the foot of the bed, leaning over with her hands firmly wrapped around his ankles. A look of relief was quickly dawning on her, as well as on the Lucario that stood next to her, leaning over the bed as well. And standing next to the Lucario, with her paws just reaching the bedframe, was Ria, who wasted no time hopping up onto the bed and running over to throw herself onto his chest.
"Woah!" Spruce gasped, "Hey there! Uhh… Ria…?"
"Uh, yeah." Maylene said, "What, you forget her name or something?"
"Oh dear." Nurse Joy said, "I think he may be somewhat disoriented after being stuck in those nightmares for so long."
"Nightmares?" Spruce mumbled, planting a hand against the mattress and pushing himself to sit up in the bed.
"You've been stuck in an induced nightmare for the past four days." Lucas said, finally piping up from where he was sitting, "It was growing extremely concerning."
"And it was proving that that lunar wing was a total scam." Maylene added under her breath.
"Sorry, what?" Spruce said, "This is all too fast."
"It's alright." Nurse Joy reassured him, walking over to gently help him as he shifted out of bed and rose up onto his feet.
"So those were all nightmares?" Spruce said, "It all felt so real… like I was someone else…"
"Well it was all fake." Maylene said, hurrying over to take his opposite side from Nurse Joy and help him stand, "Dunno what you were dreaming about."
"At first I was dreaming that I was- that I was some kind of pirate." Spruce explained, sounding a little embarrassed as he recounted it, "Then I woke up and I was a homeless guy living with Ria on Iron Island. But it was different…"
"It's possible that as the effect of the nightmare gradually wore off, your brain started transitioning to different scenarios that were less traumatic." Lucas mused, "Eventually leading to you finally waking up here."
"That probably makes sense?" Spruce said, uncertainly, as he stepped forwards and away from the assistance of the two pink-haired ladies, "Wait, why was I having a nightmare like that in the first place?"
"That would be my fault, I'm afraid."
All heads turned to the door to the room just in time to catch the entrance of a young man in a red coat with flowing grey hair which obscured one of his eyes. The trainer known as Tobias offered a polite smile in Spruce's direction as he closed the door behind him. Both Lucas and Maylene were quick to direct glares his way, while Lucario bared its teeth, and Ria scrambled over to stand between her trainer and him.
"Hi?" Spruce blinked, offering a wave, "Sorry, I think my mind's still blanking on stuff. Who are you?"
"Tobias." Maylene scowled, "That's who he is. Do you remember what you were doing before you woke up here, Spruce?"
"No." Spruce shook his head, "Actually- wait, I think I remember. This is… we were at the Lily of the Valley Conference! I was going to enter it!"
"You did enter it." Tobias said curtly, "You performed exceptionally well, making it all the way to the semifinals. Unfortunately for the both of us, you were matched up against me."
"Stupid Legendary Pokémon using tryhard…" Maylene grumbled under her breath.
"I don't remember that, the whole conference is fuzzy." Spruce said, before glancing back at Maylene, "Hold on, did you just say Legendary?"
"My signature Pokémon." Tobias interjected, "Darkrai."
"Darkrai…" Spruce said, "And nightmares… That was you?!"
"I did already say your nightmares were my fault." Tobias replied flatly, "But yes. I'm afraid that you pushed the two of us to such a degree in our match that we, erm, lost some of our finer control near the tail end."
"He means that his Darkrai hit you with Dark Void." Lucas deadpanned.
"Oh." Spruce said, "Um… well no hard feelings, as long as it was an accident? That's kinda disappointing, losing to something like that."
"I should know." Tobias said, "Given that I was the one disqualified for it."
The two trainers stared at each other for a moment. Slowly, Spruce raised a finger to point at himself.
"I… won?" He said.
"You advanced to the finals, yes." Tobias nodded, "Unfortunately, as you were still bedridden with Darkrai's nightmare at the time, you were treated as having forfeited. It was a let-down on all fronts, until the Champion had the idea to replace the final match with an exhibition match between her and the trainer who won through sheer technicality. I think his name was Ketchup? Something like that."
"Win by the loophole, lose by the loophole, I guess." Spruce said, lowering his hand, "Uh… sorry about getting you disqualified?"
"Why be sorry?" Tobias said, "You may not have won through sheer strength, but your skill as a trainer certainly must have exceeded mine for such an outcome to occur. It's not a loss that I would try and justify so defensively."
"Um, if it's alright, Mister Tobias, I think it'd be best if Spruce was given some space." Nurse Joy said.
"Yes, of course." Tobias said. He gave a brief, polite bow to Spruce, before turning and taking his leave. The three trainers and the nurse who remained stood around silently, with Nurse Joy glancing around at the others before Lucas suddenly spoke up.
"What Tobias didn't mention was that even though you're officially the runner-up for the conference," He said, "the League Competition Committee decided that, based on extenuating circumstances, you would receive the same privilege as a League winner."
'Hold on, is he saying…?' Spruce thought.
"Are you saying…?" He said aloud.
"Over the next year, you can seek out and challenge the Elite Four at your convenience." Maylene confirmed, "And if you manage to take down all four, you can aim right for Cynthia herself!"
The news made Spruce actually step back and sit himself down on the bed again, staring with wide eyes at the wall ahead. He felt a nudge against his knee, and looked down to see Ria smiling eagerly up at him. With a laugh, he scooped her up in his arms and hugged her against his chest.
"We did it!" He laughed, "We did it! Ria, we actually did it!"
"Riolu!" She cheered right back at him.
"Heck yeah you did!" Maylene grinned, "I guess you proved you-know-who wrong after all, eh?"
"It's just a shame you didn't get to be the one to put him in his place." Lucas said.
"Is he still around?" Spruce said, "Would it be bad sportsmanship to go rub this in his face?"
"Not anymore, unfortunately." Lucas said, "The Conference has been over for a couple of days now, all the trainers have headed off. Tobias only stuck around because he wanted to be here when you woke up."
"Oh, that's a shame." Spruce said, "Uh… if it's been four days since I fell asleep, what day is it now?"
It was Nurse Joy who helpfully provided him with the answer.
"Today's date is April 1st. A Monday."
"Huh?" Spruce said, sitting up and looking around curiously, "Hello? Anyone?"
The only response that he got was silence, prompting him to close his eyes and take a deep breath. He opened them a second later with a flash of blue, and immediately shot out of bed. Ignoring any sense of lethargy in his body, he dashed over to the room's wooden door and threw it open. A blast of cold air hit him as he hurried through the doorway and into the halls of the castle, but he ignored that as well as he charged ahead through the building until finally coming upon a grand and sprawling throne room.
Gathered there in the throne room were all the Straw Hats, spread out around the room and all sharing looks of irritation or downright disgust directed at either Spruce himself, or at the two Pokémon lying in the centre of the room. Though Spruce didn't realise it as he charged in, Vivi and Carue were positioned by the entrance, and they both stepped inwards to block him off once he had come in. The main reason Spruce didn't realise this- or even notice the looks the rest of the crew were directing at him- was due to being too focused on the sight of the badly beaten and bleeding Ria and Pex lying before him.
Burn marks, gashes, bruises, broken bones… if Spruce was a detective, it wouldn't have been hard to figure out which band of pirates had done this. He rushed to the two's side, kneeling down and cradling the both of them as tears began to form in his eyes.
"R-Ria?! Pex?!" He gasped.
Their auras were practically just flickers.
"Looks like you woke up at last." Nami jeered, "Took you long enough, you worthless little worm."
"H-huh? Nami?!" Spruce whirled around, only just now seeming to register the presence of all the Straw Hats around him. All of them took a step towards him, forming a circle around him. Sanji took a drag of his cigarette, Zoro nudged Sandai Kitetsu an inch out of its sheath, while Luffy cracked his knuckles. All of it made Spruce shrink back into himself slightly.
"Did you really think we would keep putting up you after all this?" Zoro growled.
"Zoro?" Spruce said. His eyes flashed blue again, and he staggered to his feet and backed away from the lot of them, a look of terror quickly growing in his eyes. Instinctively, his hand drifted down towards his belt, seeking out Whiskers' Pokeball, but he found only empty space. Glancing down, he realised that all three of his Pokeballs were missing, and he looked back up to see Nami smirking at him as she clutched them in her hand.
"Looking for these?" She taunted.
"What is going on? Why are you all doing this?!" Spruce pleaded. He found himself backed up against the throne, and stepped to the side of it in order to half-shield himself behind it. The others had formed an arch, trapping him where he was and slowly closing in. Vivi and Carue remained by the entrance, watching on coldly.
"Didn't you see this coming?" Sanji scoffed, "You are such a shitty scout, and an even shittier trainer. We do not need someone like that on the crew."
"Shitty…?" Spruce mumbled, "But why would you- and Ria and Pex… Luffy?!"
Looking to the captain desperately, all Spruce got in return was complete and utter apathy from his frigid gaze. In some ways, it hurt more than the outright malice he was getting from everyone else.
"If I am going to become the Pirate King, I need to have the best crew possible." Luffy said, "You could not even beat that weak Mercu-lady on your own, and you almost let everyone be turned into wax back at Little Garden. You do not deserve to be a Straw Hat."
"There is no spot on the crew for a worthless scout who does not even evolve his own Pokémon!" Usopp added angrily.
"KAK KAK KAK! And to think I wasted a vaccine on the little brat when you were all going to toss him away like trash, anyway!"
Pushing through Vivi and Carue, Doctor Kureha sauntered on over to where the crew was encircling Spruce, who stood up a little straighter at the doctor's arrival. Hope flashed in his eyes, especially as the doctor revealed a scalpel and aimed its tip at Sanji's throat.
"You want the secret of my eternal youth?" She asked.
"No one was asking for that, you old hag!" Zoro snapped.
"Well, what is it that you are looking to do with my patient, then?" Kureha continued.
"We are going to kill him, for being so useless." Nami answered.
"WHAT?!" Spruce screamed. Kureha just nodded.
"That makes sense." She admitted, "But I cannot have you just killing my patients while they are under my care. No… I think I have something better in mind for everyone. CHOPPER, THE DOORS!"
The hat-wearing reindeer which accompanied Kureha on her outings also walked into the throne room, and butted his head against one of the bricks in the wall. It slid inwards like a button, with the sound of stone grinding against stone echoing all around the room. And then the entire room shook, and gears rumbled from behind the walls as part of the stonework slid apart to reveal a secret compartment concealed behind the wall.
A pair of sleek, golden doors stood, surrounded by gleaming white walls that almost matched the whiteness of the snow covering the mountains outside. The sight of the doorway surprised Spruce, enough so that Zoro was able to lunge forwards and grab a hold of him, seizing his arms and quickly pinning them behind his back.
"Wha- HEY!" Spruce cried, struggling desperately against the swordsman's grip of iron.
"What is that door?" Luffy said, "Is it a mystery door?"
"KAK KAK KAK!" Kureha laughed, "Not at all, that is the door to a place called the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Trying to survive in there is practically a nightmare, with the climate and the gravity messed up. But the real kicker is why it has its name in the first place. Time flows differently in there, so one day out here equals a whole year in there!"
"What?! That- that can't be real!" Spruce gasped, still struggling.
"So what you are saying is that if we toss him in and walk away, he will just waste away inside?" Nami surmised.
"I would be surprised if he was still alive by the end of the day." Kureha replied.
"Okay. Yeah." Luffy nodded, "We can lock him in, right?"
"Of course! Why else would I suggest it?" Kureha scoffed, "Open 'er up, Chopper!"
Without saying anything, Chopper simply grabbed onto the handle of one of the doors to the Time Chamber with his mouth and yanked it open, revealing a bright white void that seemed to stretch out beyond what the scale of the castle they were in should have allowed. The sight of the alabaster abyss before them left the Straw Hats momentarily transfixed, while Spruce's struggling only became more and more desperate.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF YOU?!" He screamed, "W-WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! WHY?! THIS MAKES NO SENSE! IT IS EXTREMELY OUT OF CHARACTER!"
His screaming seemed to remind the Straw Hats of what exactly they were doing. With a malicious smirk, Zoro and Sanji both strolled on over towards the open entryway into the Time Chamber, with the former hauling Spruce along with him as he did so. As they did, Luffy walked over to where Ria and Pex laid, sprawled out and defeated, and he picked the two of them up.
Spruce's protests continued to fall on deaf ears as Zoro and Sanji came to a stop in front of the entrance. The swordsman released his hold on the trainer, shoving him lightly forwards- only lightly, because it was Sanji who followed up with an absolutely brutal kick delivered straight to Spruce's stomach. Spittle flew from his mouth, accompanied by the air vacating his lungs, as he was sent flying back into the abyss. Before he'd even touched the ground, Luffy tossed the beaten forms of his Pokémon through the doorway to join him, with the set being completed by Nami throwing Whiskers' Pokeball in as well.
The four of them were helpless to do anything as the doors to the Time Chamber slammed shut before them, and then the stone wall closed itself back up in front of it. They were well and truly trapped. For all time.
-O-
There were covers resting on his lap. As he took in his surroundings, Spruce realised that they had been drawn up to his neck, because he'd been in bed. Luffy's bed. And indeed, when Spruce looked to his left, at the rest of the bed, he saw that the rubbery rabble-rouser was indeed sound asleep beside him. With the covers tugged back, the top of the x-shaped scar was visible. Across the bed from the captain, their other bedmates were sleeping equally as soundly. The Okama, Hyena and Berserker all appeared perfectly content.
'Probably having better dreams than I am.' Spruce thought to himself, shifting around and getting out of bed to walk over to the door, 'A hell of a lot more accurate too.'
Careful not to make a peep, he nudged the door open and stepped out onto the deck. Immediately he was met with a blast of freezing midnight air, along with the sound of waves rocking against the hull and the whiff of sea salt. All things familiar to him after the months spent sailing with the Straw Hats after leaving Drum. Because they had left Drum. They hadn't betrayed him.
A rustling of leaves and a faint- very faint- tapping of wood against wood caught Spruce's attention as he made his way over to the taffrail, and he whirled around expecting to find the crew's gardener joining him on the deck. But there was nobody, so he looked back out at the uncharacteristically tranquil ocean of the New World- and promptly recoiled away from a brushing of leaves against his side.
"GAH!" Spruce cried, which elicited a snicker from his attacker.
"Teeheehee… TAHAHA!" Shiftry laughed, beginning to hop from one foot to the other playfully, "The great and powerful Shiftry has not had the opportunity to surprise you for some time! Are you astonished by Shiftry's unparalleled talent for stealth?"
"You're not unparalleled, Usopp beats you any day of the weak." Spruce muttered.
"Ninjas don't count." Shiftry huffed.
"Whatever." Spruce said, "What are you doing up, anyway?"
"Should Shiftry not be the one who asks you that?" Shiftry retorted, "Shiftry does have the excuse of being a Dark-Type, after all."
Spruce sighed.
"A bad dream." He explained, "A weird one too. I… it was the crew, back on Drum Island, where we met Chopper. I woke up in Kureha's castle, and found everyone else waiting for me. They told me that I was- that I was useless, and so I had to be kicked off the crew."
It was hard to meet the Pokémon's gaze as he recounted the experience, so Spruce instead stared down at the inky surface of the water below. He could make out the reflection of his face, as well as the myriad of stars dotting the sky above them.
"Mhm…" Shiftry said, "Shiftry supposes that would be a rather uncomfortable dream to have. Perhaps you've been feeling insecure about your worth to the crew as of late? Dead weight?"
"No!" Spruce said, a little louder than he intended, "No. I haven't been- I'm not useless. I haven't felt useless since Marineford, and Akainu…"
The sight of charred blue and yellow fur, and a metal spike that had been melted to a stump, rose to the forefront of Spruce's mind. He shook his head, trying to focus on the rapidly fading images of his nightmare. Those, at least, he knew were fake.
"If you say so." Shiftry said. He seemed content to leave it at that, and joined Spruce in looking down at the water.
"Maybe…" Spruce piped up, once the silence had drawn on for long enough, "Maybe I do feel a little insecure. After those two years we spent training, I guess I wasn't expecting to encounter an enemy on the first island in the New World who could crush me and my team like we were nothing."
"Legendary Pokémon are cheating." Shiftry said, "For what it might be worth."
"There's no cheating in pirate battles." Spruce replied, "I learned that one before we left Iron Island. No, we had long enough since the first one- I had long enough- to have been ready. What good is the Pokémon Trainer if his training isn't good enough?"
"Well our captain doesn't have any better options than you." Shiftry said, "So you're more good than anyone else on the ship."
"That somehow doesn't make me feel better about things." Spruce deadpanned, before sighing, "Ria and Pex were both pretty badly beaten up in the nightmare. Barely still alive, after the crew were done with them. Think that's got a basis in reality too?"
The two of them both eyed the pair of Trust Balls that rested on Spruce's belt, having gone untouched long enough to have gathered a layer of dust on their surfaces.
"If she was battling at my side, with those two years behind her, how strong could we have been?" Spruce said bitterly, "Strong enough to take down a Legendary?"
"Maybe you could have, maybe not." Shiftry shrugged, "Shiftry certainly knows better than anyone just what kind of potential Ria was capable of… and Shiftry also knows that she would slap you if she knew you were wasting time whining about how weak you are now, instead of training to get as strong as you need to be."
Spruce turned to look at the Pokémon, who slapped him across the face with a leafy appendage.
"Besides." Shiftry added, "There's no point despairing that much when this is all just a dream, anyway."
"What?" Spruce said.
"What?"
-O-
Greeting Spruce when he awoke was the familiar sight of the blue sky seen through the veil of the leaves hanging overhead. Perched atop one of the branches was a Starly, and flying overhead there were a pair of Noctowl. The air had a distinct morning chill to it, though it was a chill that he was accustomed to, wasn't it? After all, he'd been sleeping out in the Eterna Grove for years, and it wasn't like he had ever left the island for a different climate, right?
"That was a weird dream…" Spruce mumbled to himself as he sat up, stretching his arms out and letting out a hearty yawn.
-O-
Spruce's eyes snapped open, and then shut themselves just as quickly as he found himself staring directly into a light overhead. He turned his head slight to the side and tried again, looking to the side to instead be met with the sight of a Nurse Joy and her Chansey, both looking awfully concerned. Looking past the two of them, he saw a young man sitting over by the wall, his hands folded neatly in his lap. The boy's hair was grey, and he wore a red beret atop his head, along with wearing a black vest with a yellow stripe running across the chest.
No- not the boy. Lucas. His name was Lucas, and Lucas was staring nervously at Spruce in the bed as he sat where he was. Turning and looking away from Lucas, Spruce instead looked to the foot of his bed, where he finally saw the source of the voice that had been calling out to him as he returned to a waking state.
The pink haired form of Maylene stood at the foot of the bed, leaning over with her hands firmly wrapped around his ankles. A look of relief was quickly dawning on her, as well as on the Lucario that stood next to her, leaning over the bed as well. And standing next to the Lucario, with her paws just reaching the bedframe, was Ria, who wasted no time hopping up onto the bed and running over to throw herself onto his chest.
"Woah!" Spruce gasped, "Hey there! Uhh… Ria…?"
"Uh, yeah." Maylene said, "What, you forget her name or something?"
"Oh dear." Nurse Joy said, "I think he may be somewhat disoriented after being stuck in those nightmares for so long."
"Nightmares?" Spruce mumbled, planting a hand against the mattress and pushing himself to sit up in the bed.
"You've been stuck in an induced nightmare for the past four days." Lucas said, finally piping up from where he was sitting, "It was growing extremely concerning."
"And it was proving that that lunar wing was a total scam." Maylene added under her breath.
"Sorry, what?" Spruce said, "This is all too fast."
"It's alright." Nurse Joy reassured him, walking over to gently help him as he shifted out of bed and rose up onto his feet.
"So those were all nightmares?" Spruce said, "It all felt so real… like I was someone else…"
"Well it was all fake." Maylene said, hurrying over to take his opposite side from Nurse Joy and help him stand, "Dunno what you were dreaming about."
"At first I was dreaming that I was- that I was some kind of pirate." Spruce explained, sounding a little embarrassed as he recounted it, "Then I woke up and I was a homeless guy living with Ria on Iron Island. But it was different…"
"It's possible that as the effect of the nightmare gradually wore off, your brain started transitioning to different scenarios that were less traumatic." Lucas mused, "Eventually leading to you finally waking up here."
"That probably makes sense?" Spruce said, uncertainly, as he stepped forwards and away from the assistance of the two pink-haired ladies, "Wait, why was I having a nightmare like that in the first place?"
"That would be my fault, I'm afraid."
All heads turned to the door to the room just in time to catch the entrance of a young man in a red coat with flowing grey hair which obscured one of his eyes. The trainer known as Tobias offered a polite smile in Spruce's direction as he closed the door behind him. Both Lucas and Maylene were quick to direct glares his way, while Lucario bared its teeth, and Ria scrambled over to stand between her trainer and him.
"Hi?" Spruce blinked, offering a wave, "Sorry, I think my mind's still blanking on stuff. Who are you?"
"Tobias." Maylene scowled, "That's who he is. Do you remember what you were doing before you woke up here, Spruce?"
"No." Spruce shook his head, "Actually- wait, I think I remember. This is… we were at the Lily of the Valley Conference! I was going to enter it!"
"You did enter it." Tobias said curtly, "You performed exceptionally well, making it all the way to the semifinals. Unfortunately for the both of us, you were matched up against me."
"Stupid Legendary Pokémon using tryhard…" Maylene grumbled under her breath.
"I don't remember that, the whole conference is fuzzy." Spruce said, before glancing back at Maylene, "Hold on, did you just say Legendary?"
"My signature Pokémon." Tobias interjected, "Darkrai."
"Darkrai…" Spruce said, "And nightmares… That was you?!"
"I did already say your nightmares were my fault." Tobias replied flatly, "But yes. I'm afraid that you pushed the two of us to such a degree in our match that we, erm, lost some of our finer control near the tail end."
"He means that his Darkrai hit you with Dark Void." Lucas deadpanned.
"Oh." Spruce said, "Um… well no hard feelings, as long as it was an accident? That's kinda disappointing, losing to something like that."
"I should know." Tobias said, "Given that I was the one disqualified for it."
The two trainers stared at each other for a moment. Slowly, Spruce raised a finger to point at himself.
"I… won?" He said.
"You advanced to the finals, yes." Tobias nodded, "Unfortunately, as you were still bedridden with Darkrai's nightmare at the time, you were treated as having forfeited. It was a let-down on all fronts, until the Champion had the idea to replace the final match with an exhibition match between her and the trainer who won through sheer technicality. I think his name was Ketchup? Something like that."
"Win by the loophole, lose by the loophole, I guess." Spruce said, lowering his hand, "Uh… sorry about getting you disqualified?"
"Why be sorry?" Tobias said, "You may not have won through sheer strength, but your skill as a trainer certainly must have exceeded mine for such an outcome to occur. It's not a loss that I would try and justify so defensively."
"Um, if it's alright, Mister Tobias, I think it'd be best if Spruce was given some space." Nurse Joy said.
"Yes, of course." Tobias said. He gave a brief, polite bow to Spruce, before turning and taking his leave. The three trainers and the nurse who remained stood around silently, with Nurse Joy glancing around at the others before Lucas suddenly spoke up.
"What Tobias didn't mention was that even though you're officially the runner-up for the conference," He said, "the League Competition Committee decided that, based on extenuating circumstances, you would receive the same privilege as a League winner."
'Hold on, is he saying…?' Spruce thought.
"Are you saying…?" He said aloud.
"Over the next year, you can seek out and challenge the Elite Four at your convenience." Maylene confirmed, "And if you manage to take down all four, you can aim right for Cynthia herself!"
The news made Spruce actually step back and sit himself down on the bed again, staring with wide eyes at the wall ahead. He felt a nudge against his knee, and looked down to see Ria smiling eagerly up at him. With a laugh, he scooped her up in his arms and hugged her against his chest.
"We did it!" He laughed, "We did it! Ria, we actually did it!"
"Riolu!" She cheered right back at him.
"Heck yeah you did!" Maylene grinned, "I guess you proved you-know-who wrong after all, eh?"
"It's just a shame you didn't get to be the one to put him in his place." Lucas said.
"Is he still around?" Spruce said, "Would it be bad sportsmanship to go rub this in his face?"
"Not anymore, unfortunately." Lucas said, "The Conference has been over for a couple of days now, all the trainers have headed off. Tobias only stuck around because he wanted to be here when you woke up."
"Oh, that's a shame." Spruce said, "Uh… if it's been four days since I fell asleep, what day is it now?"
It was Nurse Joy who helpfully provided him with the answer.
"Today's date is April 1st. A Monday."
You evil genius! I was legitimately confused until the end. Thanks for the April Fools update.