After the avalanche, the snow-covered plains fell into a suffocating, deathly silence. Only the cold wind whipped up the powder from the ground, letting out a mournful, low howl.
Puh-ha!!
A hand suddenly punched through the thick snow, followed by Luffy's straw-hat-clad head. He gasped for air, his face flushed a deep, painful red from the cold.
Not far away, another mound of snow shifted. Viktor, still shielding Nami tightly in his arms, crawled out with great difficulty. His black coat was soaked through, and his face was as pale as paper.
That single "Majestic Destroyer Flame" used to counter the avalanche had nearly drained his chakra dry. He immediately looked down at Nami.
Fortunately, because he had acted as a human shield at the last moment, Nami hadn't felt the impact. Her face was still flushed with fever, and though her breathing was ragged, it remained steady.
"Phew... she's still alive." Viktor exhaled, the sudden wave of exhaustion nearly making him collapse back into the snow.
"Shishishi! We made it!" Luffy cleared the snow from his hat, grinned as he placed it back on his head, and then scanned the surroundings. Sanji was nowhere to be seen. "SANJI!! WHERE ARE YOU!!"
Ignoring the cold, Luffy began digging frantically like a mole. Finally, near a half-buried tree, he hauled Sanji out.
"Klay!!" Viktor called out in a raspy voice.
Poof!
A sharp beak poked out of a distant drift, followed by Klay's bedraggled black form. He shook himself violently, sending snow flying everywhere. "Caw!! Master, I'm here! I almost turned into a bird-sicle! Caw!"
However, a panicked cry came from Luffy's direction. "Sanji!! Wake up!! Hey!!"
Luffy shook Sanji's body, but the cook remained unresponsive. Tears began to stream down Luffy's face. "Viktor!! Sanji's dead!! He's not moving!!"
"Don't talk nonsense!" Viktor forced his body to crawl over. Channeling the very last drop of his chakra, he pressed his fingers against Sanji's neck.
"How could he die just like that..." After a moment, Viktor's brow furrowed. "His spine took a heavy hit... during the avalanche, this guy must have used his body to tank some rocks. He's unconscious from the pain and the impact."
Luffy wept with joy and immediately pulled Sanji onto his back. "That's a relief!"
The situation was dire. Nami had a persistent fever, and Sanji was heavily injured and unconscious.
Only Luffy and a chakra-depleted Viktor remained. To make matters worse, the avalanche had completely obliterated the winding path to the summit. All that stood before them now was the vertically sheer, several-thousand-meter-high pillar of stone: the Drum Rockies.
It was the only way.
"We have to climb it!" Luffy didn't hesitate for a second. He tied the unconscious Sanji firmly to his back with rope and stared at the cloud-piercing peak with gritted teeth. "We have to save them!!"
"Climb it, huh..." Viktor strapped Nami to his back, securing her with a scarf. He tried to knead chakra to stick to the rock wall like a ninja, but his reserves were hollow.
"Heh..." Viktor looked up at the despair-inducing height and let out a dry, bitter laugh. "Looks like... we're doing this the old-fashioned way."
There was no retreat.
"LET'S GO!!" Luffy roared, ignoring the cold, and charged at the rock face using both hands and feet. He had no claws, so he had to jam his fingers into the cold, hard cracks of the stone.
Viktor followed close behind. Though he lacked the rubber body or the aid of chakra, he relied on his thousands of hours of shinobi physical training and iron-clad willpower.
Finger by finger, grip by grip, he hauled himself upward. Below him, Klay fluttered his wings, occasionally acting as a brief foothold to help Viktor find his balance.
In the shadows of the forest below, a small reindeer with a blue nose stood hidden, silently tilting his head back. He watched the two black dots—tiny as ants in the heavy snow—as they crawled upward inch by inch. His eyes were wide with shock.
Midway up the mountain, the gale-force winds cut like knives. The temperature had dropped dozens of degrees below zero. Luffy and Viktor had long since lost all sensation in their limbs; they were moving on pure instinct.
Fwhoosh—!!
Suddenly, a violent crosswind blasted them without warning. Luffy's foot slipped as the rock beneath him crumbled.
"AH!!" Luffy lost his balance and fell backward, destined for the abyss.
Grab!!
A hand, turned purple from the cold, shot out at the last possible second and caught Luffy's ankle in a death grip.
Viktor held the rock with one hand, his fingernails cracking and bleeding. With the other, he supported the combined weight of Luffy and Sanji, his entire body strained like a drawn bow.
"CAW!!" Klay also flew up desperately, biting Luffy's collar with his beak and flapping his wings with all his might to help lighten the load.
"Hah... hah..." The veins on Viktor's forehead throbbed as he let out a guttural roar from the limit of his physical capacity. "Hold on... Captain!! We're almost there! Don't... fall now!!"
Dangling in the void, Luffy looked up at Viktor's bruised, frozen hand. His eyes burned. With a burst of core strength, he swung back and re-secured his grip on the wall.
"YEAH!! NO WAY I'M FALLING!!"
After hours of hellish climbing, as the sun dipped below the horizon and night fell, two blood-stained hands finally crested the edge of the Drum Rockies' summit.
Luffy was covered in blood, his nails torn. Viktor had pushed his willpower to the absolute limit, holding on by a thread. The two tumbled over the rocks and collapsed into the snow in front of a castle. Their vision blurred.
Before blacking out, they saw a strange blue-nosed creature (Chopper) and a white-haired woman in trendy punk clothes holding a bottle of plum wine (Dr. Kureha) standing at the castle gates.
"Save..."
Luffy and Viktor collapsed into the snow simultaneously, their last thoughts a shared obsession: "Save... our comrades..."
"CAAAW!!" Klay also plummeted to the ground, exhausted. He wept openly, prostrating himself in the snow and repeatedly banging his head against the ground. "Caw! Please!! I beg you!! Save these masters!!"
Dr. Kureha raised an eyebrow, looking at the pile of casualties and the kowtowing crow. "Oh? A talking crow?" She crossed her arms, a playful, surprised smile touching her lips. "This is quite a rare guest."
Beside her, little Chopper's eyes went wide, and he hid behind Kureha's legs.
A long time passed. Warmth. That was the first thing Nami felt as she regained consciousness. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself lying in a soft, large bed. The fire in the hearth lit the room brightly.
"Are you awake?"
Nami turned her head and saw a small reindeer with a blue nose walking on two legs, peeking at her from behind a doorframe. However... the fellow was hiding completely backward. He had his body exposed and his face hidden behind the door, thinking that meant no one could see him.
Nami blinked and spoke weakly, "Is that... a raccoon?"
"BASTARD!!!"
Hearing that word, Chopper's fur stood on end. He jumped out from behind the door, waving his hooves and roaring, "I'm a reindeer!! I'm not a raccoon!!"
"Eh?!" Nami covered her mouth in shock. "It speaks?!"
Just then, the scent of wine wafted in. "Looks like you're in high spirits, little girl."
The door swung open. Wearing a midriff-baring top and looking remarkably fit for a 130-something-year-old "witch," Dr. Kureha walked in with a swagger that defied all logic, a bottle of plum wine in hand. She walked to the bedside, looked down at Nami, and adjusted her sunglasses.
"Want to know who I am? Want to know the secret to my youth?"
"No... not really..." Nami shook her head instinctively.
"Since you're awake, let's talk about the medical fees." Kureha grinned, a smile that made even a money-lover like Nami feel a chill down her spine. "Furthermore..."
Kureha pointed to the room next door, her tone softening slightly. "The two men who carried you and climbed this snowy mountain with their bare hands... they're still sleeping like dead pigs. They're a bunch of reckless idiots, aren't they?"
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