Chapter 14: Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Sitting on top of the lighthouse, Snow looked at the descending ship. Even when the ship sometimes would swirl in one direction as it fell, the helmsman knew what he was doing and was able to control the ship. Snow didn't know when, but at some point, his eyesight and hearing got a lot better. It was more like his perception was getting better. It was probably one of the few advantages of his devil fruit power. So, even sitting here, he could clearly see the ship in the distance.
"Hey!" Snow looked down as an old man started to yell at him. "Get down from here, you blocking the sun for me."
Taking one last glance at his ship and seeing that it wouldn't need his help, Snow jumped off the lighthouse. As he was about to reach the ground, his arms turned into wings, and with a flap of them, he stopped his fall and landed gracefully in front of the old man. The man didn't even lift his head from his newspaper.
"Hello there," Snow waved his hand, trying to get the old man's attention, but to no avail. "You are Crakus? No, that doesn't sound right. Caracas? No, again, it sounds weird. Oh, year Crocodile."
"Crocus," Snow definitely remembered that name and was just making fun of the old man. Definitely. "I know who you are, too."
"Of course, after all, I am the most badass pirate in the North Blue," Snow replied with a proud smile. "Who doesn't know my name."
"I don't," Crocus replied, again not even lifting his eyes as he continued to read. "But I know you are a dead man walking."
"I am not a ghost or a zombie," Snow said, feeling a bit offended.
"Back away, you are blocking the sun."
"And if I will not?"
"You will regret it."
"What will I regret?"
"Making me find another nice spot under the sun," Crocus replied, making Snow laugh.
"Heh," Snow smirked and stepped to the side. "So, even from one glance, you can tell that I am dying. I guess you were the doctor of the Pirate King for a reason."
"So, you do know me," Crocus replied as Snow sat next to him and opened his umbrella to block the sun as it was too much for him. "I can tell that you were sick most of your life. And even though you've gotten better recently, you don't have much time left. I can't see you surviving for more than three years."
"Plenty of time to find a miracle to save me," Snow replied just as his ship crashed into the sea below the lighthouse.
"Is that why you are in the sea, to find a miracle?"
"How about a bet," Snow replied as he stood and prepared to join his crew. "If I come back to you after three years. You will tell me where One Piece is."
"And if you don't?"
"Well, I will be dead, so you won't get anything," Snow said, stumped, but he didn't mind it. "But I can give you something now. Soon, there will come a group of idiots who don't understand anything about this world but will still take it by storm. And they will help you with that giant fish sleeping underwater."
"How do you know that?"
"I will tell you once I return."
"What is your name?"
"You will read about me," Snow felt satisfied as he got Crocus to lift his head from his newspaper. "They will call me the worst of the worst generation—the Gravedigger Snow. But the name my parents picked for me is Snow Silverlake. Be proud, as you are the only one left alive who knows my name."
Not waiting for a response, Snow jumped, turned into an iron bird, and flew to his ship. As he landed on the deck of Polar Tang, he was greeted by glares from his crew. Only Coribou looked confused and lost as he looked at the sky. Snow only smiled and picked the lizard from Coribou's head and started to scratch its neck.
"Wait, that was a lizard?" Shachi, the shipwright asked, shocked.
"It has always been a lizard," Snow replied, not understanding what he was on. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed it. Are you an idiot or blind?"
"Yeah, everyone knew it was a lizard," Penguin said with a whistle. "Well, that was quite a ride. How about a lunch?"
"I want an apple pie, chocolate cookies, and ice cream for dessert," Snow quickly replied.
"You are getting a carrot cake, and you will be happy about it."
Ah, Penguin was still angry about Snow abandoning him. Oh, well, Snow liked carrot cake anyway, so he wasn't complaining. Law glanced at the lighthouse and back at Snow before ordering the crew to depart. Snow wanted to meet Lagoon before leaving, but the blue whale was probably sleeping or something. So, he will have to meet him after he returns here.
…
It was so hot. Snow literally melted on the deck as he lay covered in the shade of his umbrella. He couldn't get inside because he was too lazy to clean the mess that was created when the ship went through the reversed mountain. And until it was all cleaned up, they couldn't submerge the ship underwater, where the sun didn't reach them.
There was a big difference between this and the weather in North Blue. Snow already had a difficult time handling the sun, but here, it felt like the sun was just above his head, boiling him alive. The other crew members, too, weren't used to the heat and were practically naked as they worked on the deck. But Snow was the only one who was dying.
"Land ahoy!" Snow didn't even know who shouted, but it gave him enough motivation to push himself up.
"It seems we reached our first destination," Law said as he looked ahead with a log pose in his hands. "We came there sooner than I expected."
"How?" Snow's voice was dry and wheezing. "How can you endure this with your coat and hat still on?"
"Prepare to land!" Law ignored Snow and informed the crew.
"Hey!" Snow tried to yell, but his throat was too dry. "I am the captain. I order people around."
Nobody listened as they prepared to land on the first island of the Grand Line. Snow was completely ignored and left to die alone in this hellish heat. Sludging to the front of the ship, Snow looked out into the distance, where he saw an island covered in green. Snow was expecting to find a desert, so seeing that the island was completely green did surprise him.
"Bepo! Do we know the name of the island?" Law asked the navigator as he inspected the island.
"Looking!" Bepo replied as he went through his books.
"All prepare for attack!" Snow was the first to notice another ship near the island and warned the rest of the crew. "Law, do you recognize the Jolly Roger?"
"A horse head with two rapiers?" Law looked through Spyglass and described the Jolly Roger. "Never heard of them."
"I haven't heard of them either," Snow tried to wreck his head to think if he could remember it, but nothing came to mind.
"I didn't expect you to do."
"Hey, I know quite a lot of things, and that's no way to talk to your captain," Snow said. He got hurt by Law's words. "Anyway, they are probably no one special. Maybe they are just losers who pick on rookies who just entered the Grand Line because they are too weak to go any further and can't return to their Blue."
Though they didn't move from their spot, they only got in position to block their path. Snow cracked his neck, put on his shirt, and blocked the sunlight with his umbrella as they neared the ship. It was quite a big ship, at least twice if not three times bigger than the Polar Tang. But Snow knew that size didn't mean much. He surely wasn't jealous of the bigger ship.
"Stop right here," Hooks were thrown and latched at the Polar Tangs railings and were pulled towards the stranger's ship. "You cannot enter this island."
"Telling a pirate not to do something only makes them want to do it even more," Snow replied calmly as he looked at the blonde woman with fanciful hair and dress; she didn't look like a pirate. Rather, she resembled a noblewoman. "My lady, may I inquire why I am not allowed to land on this beautiful and scenic island before my eyes?"
"What are you even talking about?" Law looked at Snow like he was an idiot.
"What? I only tried to match my speech to her appearance. I don't want to be looked down on as a simpleton pirate. I have a reputation to keep."
"What reputation?"
"Shut up, Mr. I have only one expression, and that is to scowl at everyone and everything."
"I have more than one expression."
"Oh, yes, how could I forget, Mr. I smirk because I think it makes me look smarter than anyone else."
"At least I don't act like an idiot, Bird Brain."
"Bird Brain? Did you call me Bird Brain? That it let's go, surgeon of edgy."
"You want to go? That's fine by me. I was looking for an opportunity to have a rematch with you. I can't accept being defeated by an Avian Idiot like you."
"Sure, let's do it now. I want to see what a Doctor of Gloom will do aside from boring me to death."
"Hey!" Snow stopped in the middle of his swing, and Law lowered his sword as they looked at the woman who was talking to them. "If you don't want trouble, go away. Don't dare to disturb the peaceful sleep of our Prince."
"Ahem," Snow cleared his throat as he put away his weapon. "My apologies; I didn't mean to show such poor behavior. I can see that you mean us no harm, since you would have already attacked us and wouldn't have asked so nicely. But sadly, we must land on his island to replenish our water supply and for our log pose to set course to another island."
"And this snowflake of our captain might die because he can't handle a bit of heat."
"That's it!" Snow swung his umbrella, hitting Law in the chest and sending him crashing into the stranger's ship. "Let's do this!"
"Room."
"That didn't work the first time, and it won't work this time."
Snow turned into a bird and flew into the air away from the transparent sphere that expanded towards him. Snow was prepared to throw some of his feathers at Law and be done with it, but he saw woodchips flying towards him, reaching the end of Law's domain before Law replaced a woodchip.
"I was preparing for this for a while," Law said as he once again extended his hand. "Room."
Snow didn't expect Law to use his room to get close to him and then create another room to capture him. But Snow wasn't about to lose because he was surprised, so he dropped below Law before he could do anything. Just as he was about to reach the surface of the sea, Snow extended his wings and flew into the island that was completely covered in bamboo trees.
Snow planned to use the thick bamboo trees to cover his presence and strike Law from behind. Snow didn't fancy himself getting cut into multiple pieces. And since Law has shown him that he can now catch up to Snow, Snow will have to use other tactics to win. After all, if Law can't see him, how does he plan to win? And Snow is confident in his hearing to pinpoint Law.
"Stop hiding." As expected, Law quickly followed Snow into the bamboo forest and started to look around for Snow. "That's all you are capable of, huh? Once I take the position of the captain, I will have you scrub the toilets."
"Gotcha," Snow used his weight to bend a bamboo tree and descended from above, stabbing his umbrella at Law.
Law wasn't a slough, though. At the last moment, he dodged the attack and drew his sword, trying to cut Snow in half. Snow expected that attack and jumped over the sword, letting the bamboo trees behind him get cut down while he swung his umbrella once again. This time, it hit Law, but he managed to replace himself with a bamboo tree before receiving the full blow.
"Common, are you going to run all the time?" Snow asked with a smirk, but it soon disappeared as he saw something behind Law. "Duck!"
Law recognized Snow's serious tone and ducked as the sword passed above his head. Snow was already in motion, stabbing his umbrella at whatever or whoever attacked Law, but it was gone. Snow looked around, above, and under his feet, but he found nothing. Law got back to Snow and looked around, too.
"What was that?" Law asked as he prepared for an attack.
"I didn't manage to have a good look; one second, he was behind you, and the next, he was gone."
"That woman did mention that her Prince or whatever was sleeping on his island, so we probably woke him up."
"What kind of Prince is capable of getting behind you without you noticing him? You even managed to dodge my surprise attack."
Snow got serious as he concentrated on his senses, trying to pick anything up. And only now realizing that he could not hear a thing. No birds or any other animals. It was dead silent. Surely, if they spooked the animals, Snow still should be able to hear them running away. That meant that the animals were already gone before he got here.
With that realization, Snow started seeing shadows moving through the bamboo trees. It was too fast, and Snow had to question himself if he didn't imagine them. And then he was before Snow's eyes. Blonde hair and the evilest face Snow had ever seen or dreamed of. A hollow and wide smile stretched to his face as he looked at Snow with his pure white eyes without any irises.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone