Chapter 41: Chapter forty one- Unforeseen changes
It only took them a few minutes to get Nami Secured to Gabriel's back, he had chosen to change out of his Shinigami attire back on the ship and instead was wearing a thick black coat with a hood and grew pants with heavy snow boots, his swords both stored in his inventory for him to take out later.
With Nami secured to his back by some rope around his waist Gabriel nodded, the rope wasn't tight enough to hurt Nami but it was just strong enough to make sure she didn't fall off if she lost her grip around his neck.
"alright let's go," Gabriel said as they walked out of the house ready for the long trek to the drum Rockies.
Dalton frowned, "Be careful, the forests are full of wild beasts, and the Lapahn's don't take kindly to others encroaching on their territory" he explained.
"Don't worry, we'll keep Nami safe," Luffy said with a grin.
Sanji nodded as well, "yeah with both of us here it will make for a smooth ride"
Gabriel nodded, Sanji had already told him not to be getting into any fights, and he didn't intend to do so, the cold weather would already be harsh enough on Nami he wouldn't be able to phase while carrying her, so fighting wasn't an option.
With the last pieces said the three of them started to head towards the tallest of the mountains, while Gabriel knew that Kureha and Chopper wouldn't be there at this moment he was hoping that by the time they got up the mountain that they would have returned like they had in the canon.
They were a good half an hour into the trip they were making good time as the mountains got closer, the cold wasn't really bothering Gabriel but he could tell it was getting to Sanji, Luffy just had a determined look on his face.
As they ran Gabriel reached out with his vibration senses, he had figured that while it wasn't as good as Observation Haki it was good enough to give him like a sonar ability to let him feel for movement in the area around him, so he felt it when they started to get surrounded by the large bear rabbits, Lapahn's Dalton had called them.
"Heads up we have company in every direction," Gabriel warned and that was when all hell broke loose as the large creatures burst from the trees on either side of them and burst out from the snow ahead of them.
"Crap" Sanji cursed as he ran ahead of Gabriel to intercept the ones ahead of them while Luffy began to defend from those at their flanks.
Gabriel kept his speed steady as he moved with plenty of time to avoid any attacks aimed at him or Nami, he wasn't worried, the Lapahn's were so big their attacks proved no threat to him given how slow they were, he could dodge them all day if he wanted to, but then he felt something more ahead of them, three somethings, each bigger than the Lapahn's and each moving way too fast for something that size.
"Shit" Gabriel cured his bad luck and jumped to the side just as a huge white blur shot past him, and he had to use Geppo to kick off the air to avoid the next two blurs that were equally as large and as fast as the first as they came at him as well.
Landing ahead Gabriel turned his head to look back to see what they were and he felt his mouth open in shock, they were Lapahn alright, but they were at least three times the size of the others, and evidently physics didn't matter to them as they moved with incredible speed that should have been impossible for something that size.
'what the hell, where the fuck did these three come from, they sure as hell weren't in the canon events' Gabriel thought to himself and instantly wanted to face palm as realisation hit him, the system, he knew it could change things, his devil fruit was proof of that, these three were clearly not from canon so that left only one possible place they could have come from, the system made them to make his quest harder, 'son of a bitch'
Gabriel turned and started running again picking up his pace as he spread out his vibration sense all around him to keep an eye out for incoming attacks as he ran. He didn't have to wait long before the three… Alpha Lapahn's? Shot at him again, Gabriel ground his teeth together and used Soru to dodge to the side out of their attack range and kept running, but their attacks didn't let up and he kept using Bursts of Soru to dodge them over and over getting more annoyed as he ran.
Sanji and Luffy tried to beat them back but they were too fast for them to hit, and any attacks that did land proved to be ineffective against their thick fur coats and piles of muscle under neath.
Gabriel scowled, "to hell with this," he said before launching himself into the air with Geppo and started to kick himself higher to avoid the three, though that proved to be just as ineffective as all three of them jumped up at the same time to attack him.
Gabriel dodge their attacks but then his eyes bulged as he saw them jump on air to keep attacking him, 'what the hell, they know Geppo as well' he thought but then realised why they were so fast, they used Soru as well, this was just getting to be unfair.
He avoided their attacks in the air and landed back on the ground and took off running again starting to really hate his Sadistic system for making these three annoying things, he wanted to stop and turn the three of them into fur coats but knew he couldn't with Nami on his back and so had no choice but to keep running.
Then all three appeared in front of him in a burst of speed, Gabriel cursed again and went to evade them but they moved to corner him, he gritted his teeth and looked for some way out, he couldn't use Geppo because they could just jump and catch him, he couldn't use Soru cause they could keep up, and he dared not use both at the same time because such speed could hurt Nami. It looked like he would have to fight.
But suddenly Sanji shot forward with speed and planted his heel into one of the Lapahn's sending it skidding back through the snow with a boot imprint on its side, Gabriel blinked at his speed, that had been Soru.
The next second a rubber fist shot forward at high speed and smacked into the other Lapahn's face knocking it back as well, Gabriel whipped his head to the side to see Luffy standing with his left arm out with his palm flat and his right arm raised at his side, but what really caught his eye was the steam coming off his body, 'second gear? How?'
Seeing his reaction Luffy smirked, "What you don't think you were the only one training do you?"
Sanji smirked, "Your techniques are impressive, sorry if we stole them, but Allies share don't they" he mused.
Gabriel blinked, he had caused this… it made sense, he had been practicing his Soru on the deck of she ship since he got it back in Loguetown, using the small confines of the ship to practice his high speed manoeuvring, he should have realised that exposing them to the techniques over so long it wouldn't take a genius to see how his techniques worked and incorporate them to use themselves. Sanji had the leg strength to use Soru and Luffy had clearly figured out second gear early to keep up, it looks like he didn't have to worry about them being weaker if he took away opponents in the future, they were clearly becoming stronger just with him around.
"Okay then, I'll leave them to you, and just keep dodging, just try to keep them off me, they're getting annoying" Gabriel smirked, and the other two nodded as they began running again.
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