บท 22: Up the Mountain
Seeing that the large man decided to trust the newly arrived pirates, the crowd quickly dispersed, clearly putting a lot of trust in the large man. Moments later, everyone on the Going Merry except for Zoro and Karuh was following the big man.
Zoro stayed behind to look after the Going Merry, while Karuh stayed behind because the weather was apparently too cold for the poor duck.
"Oh, by the way, I'm Dalton, Captain of the Civilian Guards."
While the small group was walking through the snow, the large man, Dalton, introduced himself.
"Oh! I'm Monkey D Luffy; I'm going to be the Pirate King."
"Yuna, future Harem Queen."
Hearing the two unique introductions, Dalton briefly felt his eyebrows twitch while giving the other crew members a side glance, only to see their eyebrows twitch as well.
''Pirate King is pretty obvious, but what in the world is a Harem Queen? Considering how the rest of the crew reacted, I'm not the only one finding that introduction weird... Oh well, not my problem. I'll just go with the flow.'
"I see, how ambitious."
However, as the Straw Hats got on land, with Yuna carrying Nami on her back, Dalton couldn't help but notice someone rather familiar coming from underneath the Going Merry's deck.
"One of the Isshi-20!?"
Naturally, Dalton was surprised to see one of the Isshi-20 on the Straw Hat's ship. The Isshi-20 were Drum Island's 20 best doctors, who were forced to work exclusively for Drum Island's former king, King Wapol.
So, after a brief explanation of why one of the Isshi-20 was on the Straw Hat's ship, Dalton couldn't help but clench his fist and grit his teeth.
'Damn, so Wapol is trying to make it back here! That damn coward fled the moment he sensed danger, and now that the threat was gone, he instantly came crawling back! I absolutely won't allow him to return!'
However, as everyone was following Dalton towards the closest town, Dalton couldn't help but steal glances at a certain person before he could no longer hold back the question that had been sitting on his tongue for a while now.
"So... aren't you feeling cold?"
As those words left his mouth, his eyes landed on Yuna, who still only wore a pair of hot pants and a shirt that only covered her chest area, revealing large parts of her stomach, back, and arms.
"Nah, I'm fine. I thrive in climates like these and feel rather comfortable right now."
Although Dalton had no idea how a human was supposed to be fine in the freezing cold like this, upon closer inspection, he quickly noticed that there were indeed no signs of Yuna actually feeling cold. She wasn't shivering, and her skin had a healthy color, with no signs of the cold having any effect on her.
Although Dalton was aware that humans could adapt to extreme climates to some decrees, he had never heard of someone doing so to such a ridiculous decree, making him conclude that Yuna had very likely eaten some kind of Devil Fruit.
Although he was curious, he decided not to pry for more information, as he had still not forgotten the bloodlust he had previously felt from Yuna. Clearly, the better choice was not to ask too many questions.
Minutes passed, and everyone had reached a small house that apparently belonged to Dalton. He invited everyone in, and after placing Nami on the bed in the house, Yuna briefly felt her head to measure her temperature, causing her to frown.
"Her temperature is still rising."
"Yes, but it's actually rising slower than I expected. Usually, as the name indicates, the Five-Day Disease becomes deadly after five days, but considering the speed at which your crewmate's temperature rises, it might actually take twice as much time. That being said, I have no idea why that is the case. Maybe it's some kind of mutated variant of the disease or something like that."
Hearing the words of Yuna and the Isshi-20, Sanji couldn't help but become a little agitated as his gaze landed on Dalton.
"Anyway, all we need is to find that doctor. Kureha, was it? Can you tell us where she is?"
Hearing Sanji's question, Dalton could only shake his head sadly while pointing his finger at a nearby window.
"I know where she is, but it's not a place that is easy to reach. Do you see the largest mountain in the distance over there? She lives in the castle built on top of that mountain. She only rarely leaves her place."
Hearing Dalton's answer and seeing the massive mountain in the distance, Sanji couldn't help but frown.
"Well, guess we got no choice but to climb it, huh?"
While Sanji wasn't happy about the situation, Yuna seemed mostly unbothered as she stood up, ready for a hike. Luffy, seemingly having come to the same conclusion, stood up with a confident smile on his face.
He walked up to Nami and lightly slapped her cheeks, forcing her to wake up briefly.
"Nami, there is a doctor here who can help you, but we have to climb a mountain. Are you ready to go?"
Seeing the confidence in Luffy's smile and Yuna giving her a thumbs up in the background, Nami smiled weakly before answering Luffy with a small voice.
"Got it, Captain. I'm entrusting my body to you."
Yuna briefly considered making a joke about Nami rather than exposing her body to her, but she decided to save that one for later since the weakened Nami probably wouldn't give her a good reaction.
That being said, Luffy smiled widely, hearing the resolve in Nami's voice. Moments later, she was on Luffy's back, secured with multiple pieces of clothing.
"I'll be coming as well. After we reach the doctor, I can assist Nami's recovery with my cooking."
"I'm coming as well. Considering my abilities, reaching that doctor should be no issue."
Yet again, everyone briefly glanced at Yuna, who was pretty much half-naked in a snowstorm, and all of them agreed with her words.
Well, only the Straw Hats knew about her ability to manipulate ice, but seeing how effortlessly Yuna traveled through the snow, he could only agree with Yuna's words without actually knowing what was going on.
So, around five minutes later, a small group of four could be seen wading through the snow towards the island's tallest mountain.
As the group of four was getting closer to the island's tallest mountain, a white blur suddenly flew toward them, but without showing any surprise, Yuna caught it before it could do anything.
Looking at the white, rabbit-looking fur ball she had caught, Yuna tilted her head in confusion.
"Mhh, some kind of bear-rabbit hybrid?"
"Ohh~ Sanji, can you cook it for me?"
"Don't be stupid, Luffy. Right now, we need to find Nami a doctor. I'll cook a few of them for you when Nami is healthy again."
Meanwhile, the huge rabbit was looking at Luffy. Seeing him drooling a little while looking at the rabbit like it was a nicely cooked piece of meat, a chill went through the rabbit's spine.
However, hearing Sanji's words, Luffy could only nod in agreement, which resulted in Yuna slowly tossing the rabbit away in disinterest.
As the little group continued advancing, their path was suddenly blocked by a huge group of white furry animals. Upon closer inspection, Yuna quickly noticed the small rabbit she had previously tossed away, surrounded by what looked like its tribe, and every single one of them easily towered over two meters high.
"Well, how ungrateful. We didn't eat it, and now it comes back with its people attacking us."
"Tsk, I really should have cooked it."
"Ohhh~ There are bigger versions of that small one. Those should give a lot of meat, right, shishishi~"
While Yuna, Sanji, and Luffy were taking the situation rather leisurely, the weird rabbit-bear hybrids suddenly started stomping the ground simultaneously, immediately causing Sanji to frown.
"No way, don't tell me they try to do that?"
The moment Sanji stopped speaking, the surrounding snow started rumbling, indicating that there was some movement. Before anyone could do anything else, a giant snow avalanche was created due to the rabbits stomping.
Seeing a wall of snow approaching them, Luffy and Sanji's eyes widen in horror.
"Shit! Run!"
Luffy and Sanji both turned around to run away from the approaching avalanche, but Yuna only scoffed in disdain as she pulled the duo back, preventing them from running away.
"YUNA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
"LET GO!!! WE NEED TO RUN!!!"
"What are you talking about? It's just a bit of snow, so there's no need to worry. Trust me."
While Sanji wore a conflicted look, the moment Yuna asked Luffy to trust her, Luffy's expression relaxed instantly, seemingly having no doubt that Yuna knew what she was doing.
So, despite a wall of snow and ice approaching, the little group, Luffy, wasn't worried at all. As if to confirm his trust, around ten meters in front of Yuna, the massive avalanche split apart, tumbling down the mountain on Yuna's right and left, missing her little group. Then, as soon as the avalanche passed through the group of four, it merged back together and continued traveling downward.
"SO COOL~"
"YUNA-CHWAN~ AMAZING!!!"
While Luffy's eyes shone in delight due to what he had just witnessed, Sanji couldn't help but fawn over Yuna as well. Unfortunately, Nami was still sleeping, missing Yuna's display of power, causing her to click her tongue in annoyance.
'Damn, that was the perfect chance for Nami to witness of awesome I am, consequently resulting in her falling in love with me.'
[You are really gunning for that damsel in distress scenario, aren't you?]
'It's old and tested, so why wouldn't I?'
Anyway, after easily passing through the avalanche, Yuna, Nami, Luffy, and Sanji continued approaching the large mountain in the distance. Without further interruptions, they managed to reach the base of the mountain around half an hour later.
Seeing the massive mountain that might as well have been a huge stone pillar up close, Sanji couldn't help but whistle.
"Phew This one won't be easy to climb."
"Yeah, but we got to do it!"
"Of course! Let's get Nami-chwan to that damn doctor!"
While Luffy and Sanji were getting fired up, Yuna briefly looked at them, tilting her head in confusion before shrugging her shoulder as she started speaking.
"Well, I don't mind if you want to climb this mountain with your bare hands, but if you want to do that, at least give me Nami so I can go ahead."
Wondering what Yuna was talking about, Luffy and Sanji's gazes landed on her, and the duo's eyes almost popped out due to what they were seeing.
"WHERE DID THOSE STAIRS COME FROM!?"
Next to Yuna, stairs entirely made of ice spiraled around the massive mountain, seemingly going all the way to the top. Nonetheless, hearing the duo's question, Yuna simply shrugged her shoulders in indifference.
"Isn't that obvious? I made them just now."
Looking at the stairs she had just made, a frown suddenly appeared on her face. With a snap of her fingers, a handrail was added to the stairs to ensure no one would slip or fall while walking up them.
Despite the little upgrade, Yuna still wasn't happy as her gaze briefly landed on the clearly unwell Nami. After detecting another problem, she yet again snapped her finger, resulting in the stairs being surrounded by walls, preventing the harsh winds whipping against the mountain from reaching those climbing the stairs.
Taking another deep look at her creation, Yuna nodded in approval while deciding that that should be enough effort to comfortably climb the mountain in front of her.
Meanwhile, Luffy and Sanji could only look utterly dumbfounded at the staircase Yuna had just created before managing to get out of their daze and happily walking toward Yuna's creation.
Although both of them expected a grueling climb, they would obviouslyn't complain about someone making things easier for them. Well, at least not if a crewmate's life was on the line.
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