CHAPTER 8: THE SNOW ISLAND AND THE HIKING BEAR

The ship hit the coast with a dull, heavy crunching noise. It wasn't rock; it was just really thick shore ice that had built up around the edges of the bay. The sky was gray like an old tin bucket, and small white flakes were coming down fast, twisting around in the wind. The place looked totally dead at first glance. Just huge white drifts and those weird, massive stone pillars in the distance that looked like giant tree trunks made of ice.

Usopp was already shivering so hard his teeth sounded like castanets. "We're here? It looks like the inside of a freezer. I don't see any houses, Leo. Are you sure people live here?"

"They live here," Leo said, his voice coming out a little stiff from the cold. He dragged his feet across the frosty deck. His left leg felt a bit numb, but it wasn't the old injury, just the freezing air sneaking under his trousers. He looked down, reached for his left boot strap, and gave it three quick, hard tugs until it made that nice, solid sound. Click. Click. Click. Okay. "The main village is just over that big white hill. Big Horn. But the locals aren't going to be very happy to see pirates."

Sanji kicked the cabin door open, holding Nami in his arms. He had wrapped her in about four different blankets, so she looked like a giant quilted sausage with a small patch of orange hair sticking out of the top. Her face was dark red now, and her breathing sounded like someone dragging a heavy sack across gravel.

"Out of the way!" Sanji yelled, his eyes looking wide and crazy. He didn't even have his cigarette lit because the wind kept blowing the sparks out. "Vivi, grab her extra socks! We need to get her to a warm room right now!"

Vivi scrambled out behind him, her hands full of wool stuff. She looked frozen too, but she wasn't complaining.

Before they could even jump off the side of the Merry, a bunch of guys appeared at the top of the snow bank. There were maybe twenty of them, all wearing thick white coats made of sheep skin and holding long hunting guns. They didn't look like soldiers; they looked like regular village people who spent too much time dealing with wolves. The guy in the middle was short and thick, with a big green coat and a funny mustache that looked like two hairy caterpillars stuck under his nose.

"Don't move, pirates!" the mustache guy shouted. He leveled his long gun right at Luffy's chest. "We know what your kind does! We had enough of pirates destroying our town last month! Turn your boat around or we'll shoot you full of holes!"

Zoro's hand went down to the hilt of his white sword. He didn't draw it, but his thumb pushed the guard up just a tiny fraction of an inch. "You want to try that?"

"Wait, Zoro," Vivi said, running past him to the front railing. She didn't look like a princess at all right now, just a tired girl with snow in her hair. She dropped to her knees right on the icy wood, bowing her head down until it touched the deck. "Please! We don't want to fight you! Our friend is incredibly sick! She's going to die if we don't find a doctor! You can take our weapons, you can take our ship, just please help her!"

The village guys looked at each other. The mustache guy lowered his gun a few inches, his eyebrows twitching. "A sick girl? Is this some kind of trick?"

Luffy didn't wait for them to finish talking. He jumped right over the side of the ship, landing waist-deep in a huge snow bank with a loud *pfff*. He struggled for a second, his rubber legs flailing around, then he pulled himself up and looked at the villagers. "Hey! Where's the old witch? The one with the deer! Tell me now!"

The mustache guy.....his name was Dalton, Leo remembered.....stared at Luffy like he was crazy. "The doctor? Dr. Kureha doesn't live down here. She lives up there." He pointed his thick gloved finger up toward the middle stone pillar. The top of it was completely lost in the gray clouds, thousands of feet up in the air. "But you can't go up there. The mountain is too steep, and the wild Lapahns will kill you before you get halfway."

"What's a Lapahn?" Usopp asked from the deck, his voice small.

"Giant white rabbits with teeth like saws," Leo said, stepping over the side onto the ice. "They like to kick people until their bones break. And they cause avalanches when they get angry."

Dalton looked at Leo, then at Sanji who was still holding the big bundle of blankets. He let out a long, heavy sigh that turned into a huge cloud of white steam. "Bring the girl to my house first. It's the big wooden one near the frozen well. You can't start climbing in this weather anyway. The wind will blow you right off the rock face."

The village house was small and smelled like burnt peat and old cabbage, but it had a massive iron stove in the corner that was throwing out tons of heat. Sanji laid Nami down on a wooden cot near the fire. She looked really bad. When Vivi tried to give her some water from a cup, Nami couldn't even lift her head up. Her skin had this weird, dry look to it, and she kept whispering things about maps and money that didn't make any sense.

"The fever is going up," Vivi said, her voice shaking a little as she wrung out a piece of cloth. "Leo, how long do we have?"

"Less than twenty hours," Leo said. He was sitting on a three-legged stool near the door, trying to get some warmth back into his toes. "If she doesn't get the medicine by tomorrow morning, her lungs will just fill up with fluid."

Luffy was standing by the window, staring up at the giant mountain peak outside. The snow was falling harder now, making the giant stone column look like a ghost through the glass. "I'm going up. Right now."

"Are you stupid, Luffy?" Usopp said, huddled next to the stove. "Look at that thing! It's straight up and down! It's like trying to climb a wall!"

"I'm going too," Sanji said, standing up from Nami's bedside. He looked completely exhausted, his face gray. "I'll carry her on my back. I can't leave her here with a bunch of strangers."

"You can't carry her and fight the rabbits at the same time, Sanji," Leo said, standing up from his stool. He walked over to the table where Dalton was cleaning his gun with an oily rag. "Dalton, has the old woman come down to the village lately?"

Dalton shook his head without looking up from his work. "She only comes down when she wants to steal some plum wine or buy some herbs. She was here three days ago in the neighboring town, Cocoa Weed. She took a whole barrel of liquor and went back up. She won't be back for a month."

"Then we have to go up," Luffy repeated. He walked over to the cot, picked Nami up, blankets and all, and tied her to his back with a long piece of thick rope he found near the door. He tied the knots real tight, right across his chest. "Nami, hold on. We're gonna see the deer."

Nami opened her eyes just a tiny bit. She looked at Luffy's straw hat, her fingers twitching against his red vest. "Luffy... don't drop me... it's cold..."

"I won't drop you," Luffy said. He didn't smile. He just walked out the door into the snowstorm.

Sanji followed him immediately, his hands deep in his black pockets, his shoulders hunched against the wind.

Leo looked at Zoro, who was still standing by the door frame, looking bored. "You staying here?"

"No," Zoro said, shifting his swords. "Too noisy in this house. The mustache guy keeps clicking his gun pieces together. I'm going for a walk."

"Don't get lost," Leo said. "The mountain is that way. If you turn left, you'll end up in the ocean."

"I know where the mountain is," Zoro grunted, walking out into the white fog. Of course, he immediately turned the wrong way, heading toward a group of pine trees that went completely away from the path, but Leo didn't have time to chase him. He had to keep an eye on Luffy.

The trail up the mountain started behind the village cemetery. It wasn't really a trail, just a narrow ridge of gray rock where the snow didn't stick as much because the wind blew it clean. The air got very thin very fast.

After about twenty minutes of walking, the snow under their boots became thick and soft, making every step feel like lifting a bucket of wet cement. Luffy was leading the way, his head down, his breath coming out in loud, ragged gasps. Nami was heavy, and the blankets were getting wet from the falling snow, making them even heavier.

"Hey," Sanji said, walking right behind Luffy. "Give her to me for a bit. You're going too slow."

"No," Luffy said, not turning around. "I got her. You look out for the white things."

"What white things?" Sanji asked, wiping some ice off his eyebrows.

Right on cue, a loud *thump* came from the woods on their right.

A massive creature stepped out from behind a frozen pine tree. It looked like a polar bear, but it was walking on its hind legs and wearing a small, neat dark blue jacket with gold buttons. It had a walking stick in its right paw and a small hat perched between its round ears. It looked extremely polite.

Sanji froze, his foot halfway in the air. "What the hell is that? Is that a pirate bear?"

"No," Leo said, catching up to them. His boots made a muffled *crunch* in the snow. He stopped and immediately bent his body down into a deep, formal bow, his forehead almost touching his knees. "It's a Hiking Bear. Don't look it in the eye, Sanji. Just bow. It's the mountain rule."

"A hiking bear?!" Sanji yelled, but he saw Leo bowing, so he quickly bent over too, his long hair falling into the snow. "Like this? Why are we bowing to meat?!"

Luffy didn't bow. He just stared at the bear with his mouth open. "Whoa! It has a jacket! Hey, bear! Do you want to join my....."

Sanji reached out and grabbed Luffy's head, forcing it down into a rough bow. "Shut up, idiot! Leo said it's the rule! Don't make the bear angry while Nami is sick!"

The giant Hiking Bear stopped in the middle of the path. It looked down at the four human beings bowing in the snow. It let out a soft, polite grunt, raised its wooden walking stick in a small salute, and walked past them with very neat, dignified steps, heading down toward the valley.

Once the bear's heavy footsteps died away, Leo stood up and wiped his knees. "Okay, we can keep going now. If you don't bow to them, they make you pay a huge fine in berries, or they just sit on you until you suffocate."

"This island is stupid," Sanji muttered, his cigarette still unlit between his lips. "First a fat guy who eats wood, now a bear with manners. What's next?"

"The rabbits," Leo said, looking up the slope.

The mountain wall got much steeper here. The trees disappeared entirely, replaced by huge, smooth sheets of white snow that looked like frozen waves hanging over their heads. It was the perfect place for an avalanche.

Suddenly, a high-pitched, nasty laugh came from the top of the snow bank above them.

*Hihihihi!*

Leo looked up. Standing in a neat line along the ridge were five giant white rabbits. They were huge, each one about the size of a large horse, with thick white fur, long ears that stood straight up, and bright red eyes that looked completely insane. They had massive hind legs that were thicker than tree trunks, and their front paws had sharp, black claws that could easily rip a man's stomach open.

"Those are the Lapahns," Leo said, his hand going instinctively to his boot strap. Click. Click. Click. Just a habit now. "They don't like visitors. And they fight in groups."

One of the giant rabbits let out a loud roar that sounded like a bear mixed with a chainsaw. It jumped straight up into the air, its massive body turning over twice before it landed back down on the snow with a huge *BOOM*. The impact sent a small wave of white powder rolling down the hill toward Luffy's feet.

"They're big," Luffy said, his eyes narrowing as he looked up at them. He shifted Nami's weight on his back, making sure the ropes were still secure. "Sanji, don't let them hit Nami."

"I know!" Sanji snapped. He stepped out in front, his black trousers looking very dark against the white snow. He did a quick spin on his left heel, his right leg lifting up into his standard fighting stance. "You just keep moving up, Luffy. I'll kick these oversized fur-balls back into their holes."

The five Lapahns didn't wait. They all jumped at once, their giant bodies blocking out the gray light from the sky as they came hurtling down the steep slope. They didn't just run; they slid on their stomachs like giant white sleds, using their claws to steer themselves right toward Sanji's face.

*BAM!*

Sanji's boot caught the first rabbit right under its chin. The sound was like a wooden bat hitting a heavy mattress. The giant Lapahn let out a weird squeak, its body flipping over backward and crashing into the snow, but two more rabbits were already right behind it, their claws swinging in wide, angry arcs.

"Gum-Gum... WHIP!"

Luffy's right leg stretched out long, sweeping across the snow bank and catching the two rabbits by their thick ankles. They went down hard, rolling down the hill in a big mess of white fur and legs, but the force of the stretch made Luffy lose his balance. He slipped on a patch of black ice under the snow and went down on one knee, his teeth gritting as he tried to keep Nami from hitting the ground.

"Luffy! Keep going!" Leo shouted. He ran forward, his heavy boots sinking deep into the drifts. He didn't have any devil fruit powers, but he knew how these things moved. He grabbed a long piece of frozen pine wood from the edge of the ridge and threw it hard, hitting the fourth rabbit right in its big red eye. The creature screeched, shaking its head and giving Luffy enough time to get back on his feet.

"Thanks, Leo!" Luffy yelled, his breath coming out in short white puffs. He started running up the slope again, his long arms reaching up to grab a high rock ledge to pull himself up.

But the rabbits weren't done. The ones Sanji had kicked were already getting back up, their red eyes looking even crazier than before. One of them, the biggest one with a long scar across its ear, stood up on its hind legs and started hitting the snow bank with its massive paws.

*THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!*

The whole mountain side started vibrating. A low, deep rumbling sound came from way up above, near the clouds. It sounded like a train coming through a tunnel, but deeper, making the ground beneath Leo's boots shake so hard he could barely stand up.

"An avalanche!" Sanji shouted, looking up the hill.

A massive wall of white snow, about fifty feet high and wider than a town square, was coming down the mountain like a giant wave. It was moving incredibly fast, knocking over small pine trees and swallowing everything in its path.

"Luffy! Run!" Leo yelled, but there was nowhere to run. The slope was too wide, and the snow wall was covering the entire ridge.

Luffy looked up at the white wall coming toward him. He didn't look scared; he just looked angry. He looked at Nami, whose head was leaning limply against his shoulder, her face still completely white. "I'm not... letting you get cold!"

He didn't try to run away from the avalanche. Instead, he tucked his chin down, grabbed the ropes around his chest with both hands, and jumped straight toward a small stone crevice under the main ridge line.

*BOOM!*

The white wave hit them.

Everything went completely white and loud. Leo felt a massive weight hit his shoulders, like a building falling down on him. The air disappeared, replaced by freezing cold powder that stuffed itself into his mouth and nose. He was rolling, turning over and over in the dark, his arms flailing around trying to find something hard to grab onto. He felt his left boot hit a rock.....hard.....and then everything stopped moving.

It was completely quiet. That weird, heavy silence that only happens when you're buried under five feet of snow.

Leo blinked his eyes open, but there was nothing to see. Just dark blue-white darkness. His lungs were burning. He tried to move his arms, but the snow around him had instantly packed tight like wet sand, locking his body in place. He managed to move his right hand just an inch, his fingers clicking against his boot leather. Click. Click. Click.

"Come on," he thought, his chest hurting bad.

Suddenly, a long, rubbery arm came smashing down through the snow above him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him upward with a violent jerk.

*GASP!*

Leo broke through the surface of the snow, sucking in the freezing cold air until his ribs hurt. Luffy was standing there, waist-deep in the white powder. He looked like a snowman himself, his straw hat covered in a thick white crust, but he was still holding Nami tight against his back. The ropes hadn't broken.

Sanji broke through the snow a few yards away, coughing up a bunch of white slush. His black suit was completely ruined, covered in ice and mud, but he was already looking around for Nami. "Is she... is she okay?"

"She's dry," Luffy said, his voice sounding very deep and tired. The avalanche had stopped, leaving the whole mountain side completely flat and smooth, like a giant white sheet. The giant rabbits were gone, buried somewhere deep under the snow valley below them.

But they weren't safe yet. The middle stone pillar was still hundreds of feet above them, and the rock wall here was completely bare, the avalanche having scraped away all the snow and ledge trails. It was just smooth, gray stone covered in a thin sheet of slick ice.

"We can't climb that," Sanji said, his legs shaking as he tried to walk over to Luffy. "It's too slick. Without ropes or spikes, we'll just slide right back down."

Luffy didn't say anything. He walked over to the base of the stone wall. He took off his sandals, dropping them into the snow, leaving his bare feet standing on the freezing stone. His toes turned blue almost instantly.

"Luffy, what are you doing?" Leo asked, his voice cracking from the cold.

"I'm going up," Luffy said simply. He reached his hands out, his fingers digging into a tiny, microscopic crack in the gray rock. He pulled his body up, his bare feet scratching against the stone, trying to find a grip.

He didn't use his rubber powers to stretch up because the rock was too smooth to catch anything above; he just climbed like a normal human being, using his fingers and toes, inch by inch, carrying the weight of two people on his back.

"He's crazy," Sanji whispered, watching Luffy's back move up the first ten feet of the wall. "He's going to fall."

"He won't fall," Leo said, his hands in his pockets. His own body was shaking so hard he could barely keep his balance, but he kept his eyes locked on the little red vest moving up the gray cliff. "He's the captain. He doesn't fall when his crew is sick."

Sanji looked at Luffy for a long five seconds, then he let out a short, angry breath. He walked over to the wall, grabbed a small stone ledge with his fingers, and started climbing right behind him. "If you drop her, rubber boy, I'm gonna kick you into the sun."

Leo stayed at the bottom. He knew his leg couldn't handle that kind of vertical climb, and besides, someone had to stay down here to make sure Wapol didn't follow them up from the other side of the mountain. He walked over to a small, dry spot under a big boulder where the snow didn't reach, sat down against the cold stone, and pulled his coat tight around his chin.

The wind kept howling through the peaks, throwing handfuls of white ice into his face, but Leo just sat there, his fingers tapping a quiet rhythm against the leather of his boot heel. Click. Click. Click.

Up above, through the thick gray fog, he could see two tiny shapes moving slowly up the giant pillar, looking like two small ants trying to reach the sky. They were moving very slow, but they weren't stopping. Not even for the cold.