"What were those animals called again? Lapins?" Tom asked Luffy and Sanji as he trudged through the deep snow with Nami on his back.
"That guy Dalton said they're meat-eating rabbits," Luffy replied, bouncing around energetically in the snow like a monkey. "But we're in a hurry. You two aren't scared of some rabbits, are you?"
"Right. If we run into them, we'll just kick them to death," Sanji said.
The moment the words left Sanji's mouth, Luffy shot forward with excitement. "Then let's hurry! We gotta get to the top before Nami dies!"
"True. Her condition is terrible. She looks like she could die at any moment. We need to move faster," Tom agreed, quickening his pace upon hearing Luffy's words.
"You two idiots! Stop saying such unlucky things!" Sanji roared at them, hurrying to catch up.
Usopp and Vivi stood outside Dalton's house, watching the three figures disappear into the distance.
"Will they be alright?" Dalton asked, sounding worried.
"If those three are together, there's absolutely no need to worry," Usopp replied with complete confidence.
"The problem is whether Nami's strength will hold out. I hope they can reach the summit safely," Vivi said, her fair face unable to hide her anxiety.
After a while, seeing that Vivi and Usopp were still standing outside in the wind and snow instead of coming back into his warm house, Dalton asked them why they wouldn't go inside. Both Usopp and Vivi said they wanted to stay outside.
Even though Usopp's body shook violently from the cold as he spoke, his tone was resolute. Their meaning was clear: they wanted to see Luffy and the others the moment they returned safely. So, even though the house was much warmer, neither he nor Vivi wanted to wait inside.
Seeing their determination, Dalton was silent for a moment, then smiled understandingly. He sat down on the snow and began chatting with the two of them.
The closer they got to Drum Mountain, the colder the weather became. The howling wind never let up for a second. The three of them chatted as they hurried along.
Seeing Luffy still wearing his straw sandals in this cold, Sanji couldn't help but comment. "Just looking at that makes my feet hurt."
Normally, walking in this ice and snow in straw sandals would easily lead to frostbite. But Luffy simply said, "It's my reason."
"You said that wrong. It should be 'It's my principle,'" Tom corrected Luffy from beside him.
"Damn fisherman, your brain's working today," Sanji said, surprised Tom had caught the error.
"Pervert cook, I think it's just because you're so stupid that you think everyone else isn't smart," Tom retorted rudely.
"Hey, did you guys know?" Luffy interjected, cutting through the rising tension between Tom and Sanji. "People in snow countries don't sleep."
"Why?" Tom and Sanji asked in unison, their attention instantly diverted.
"Because if people in snow countries sleep, they die," Luffy stated matter-of-factly.
"Cut the crap. There's no such people."
"The weather here is so cold, they should sleep more than normal people. How could they die if they sleep?" Both Sanji and Tom thought Luffy was spouting nonsense, probably something he'd mistakenly believed from one of Usopp's tall tales.
But Luffy said he hadn't heard it from Usopp; he'd heard it in a bar in his hometown.
"Then how do you explain the beds I saw in people's houses from the window?" Sanji shot back.
"I guess those beds are for when they want to die," Luffy guessed, which Sanji immediately denied.
As Tom listened to Luffy and Sanji's nonsense, he spotted a white rabbit with red eyes baring its fangs and leaping fiercely towards them.
While chatting, the three easily dodged the white rabbit's attack. Although its teeth were sharp enough to bite through a tree in one go, its movements were too slow for them. Avoiding it was no trouble at all.
"Let me tell you something. The women in this country—" Sanji began, lightly sidestepping another bite from the rabbit.
"Why would you know something like that?"
"You didn't secretly go and change clothes with some woman from this country, did you? That's a really low thing to do," Luffy and Tom said as they also sidestepped, letting the little white rabbit sail past them.
"Damn fisherman, listen," Sanji said to them. "Think about it. The weather here is freezing. You have to rub skin with others to stay warm. So every woman's skin is smooth..."
"Smooth, white skin. That's the women of a snow country." Once Sanji got started on women, he became more energized, his dodging movements growing even more agile. The white rabbit lunged at him three times from different angles, and he dodged every one.
"Then why is their skin white?"
"Isn't that normal?" Luffy and Tom chatted idly.
Sanji loudly insisted Tom was wrong. "It's because it's always snowing here! The snow falling from the sky seeps into the women's skin, that's why they're so white!"
Sanji grew more and more excited, becoming utterly immersed, as if he were surrounded by many white-skinned women, his eyes turning to hearts. He charged ahead with gusto.
The white rabbit, seeing it was being completely ignored—treated as if transparent—bit with increasing ferocity but still couldn't touch a single hair on the three of them.
"He really is an idiot."
"Agreed. He's even dumber than I thought," Luffy and Tom said honestly, voicing their thoughts upon seeing Sanji's reaction.
"You two have no right to talk about me!" Enraged by their teasing, Sanji kicked the lunging white rabbit away with one foot. "It's been jumping around us since just now! So damn annoying!"
"What was that thing, anyway?"
"Obviously a rabbit."
"We need to speed up. This is too slow." After a few more words, Luffy, Tom, and Sanji picked up their pace again.
The snowstorm grew heavier, dense enough to obscure their vision, but by now they were very close to Drum Mountain.
The closer they got, the thicker the snow on the ground became. With each step, their feet sank deep into the snow. The accumulated snow reached up to their knees, which undoubtedly slowed their progress considerably.
Fortunately, Drum Mountain was right in front of them. They were almost there.
Sanji told Tom to slow down appropriately and stop swaying so much, as it would affect Nami on his back.
Nami lay slumped over Tom's shoulder, still unconscious. Because the weather was growing even colder, her face was flushed red from the cold.
"Miss Nami, hang in there. We'll definitely get you to a doctor," Sanji said.
He had just finished speaking when he noticed a large group of huge creatures appearing ahead. They were covered in white fur, had two long ears on their heads, appeared tall and bulky, and were baring their fangs.
"What are those things?"
"Look at them. They're white and big, so they must be white bears."
"No, I think they're the super-sized enhanced version of rabbits. The kind that can walk upright on two legs. These must be the Lapins."
Luffy, Sanji, and Tom stopped as they saw the large group of giant creatures blocking their path.
"They look really angry."
"Probably because we bullied their kid earlier."
Tom saw a small white rabbit perched on the back of a large white rabbit with a scar over its right eye, glaring at them fiercely.
Clearly, this little white rabbit was the one Sanji had kicked away earlier.
"They're kinda like you. Their eyes turn red when they get angry," Luffy said, pointing at the giant rabbits slowly surrounding them and laughing at Tom.
"I think they're more like you. They love eating meat so much they want to eat us now. And their eyes are naturally red anyway," Tom retorted. He hadn't expected the "Lapins" Dalton mentioned to be pack-hunting carnivores, and in such numbers.
"How can you two still have the mood to chat? What are we going to do?" Sanji asked, feeling uneasy at the sheer number of carnivorous rabbits.
The lead large white rabbit took the initiative, leaping into the air and swinging the sharp claws on its paws towards Luffy and the others.
"It's jumping!"
"Dodge!"
"Damn fisherman, hold onto Miss Nami properly! Don't let her fall!" Luffy, Tom, and Sanji all jumped to the side, avoiding the large rabbit's attack.
Seeing the other rabbits all following the lead of the scarred one, Tom figured it was their leader. He was about to take it out when Sanji stopped him.
"Damn fisherman, you can't attack them!" Sanji shouted while dodging another rabbit's lunge. "If you attack, the impact will affect Miss Nami! It might kill her!"
When Tom had dodged the earlier attack, his movement had been a bit too sharp, causing Nami to wake up momentarily and let out a slight groan of pain. It was clear that even his dodging motions could affect her now.
"Seems like I have to be careful even when dodging," Tom conceded, agreeing that Nami's body was now too weak to withstand even a slightly strong jolt.
After waking, Nami, still not fully conscious, mumbled something about Alabasta in a low voice. Tom looked up at Drum Mountain nearby and was about to speak when Luffy beat him to it.
"Don't you dare retreat! Just keep moving forward with Nami! We'll clear the way for you!" As Luffy said this, he punched an attacking large rabbit away. Simultaneously, Sanji kicked another pouncing rabbit into the distance.
"Got it!" Without hesitation, Tom charged straight ahead through the blizzard with Nami on his back. Every rabbit that lunged at him was sent flying—one by one—by Luffy and Sanji.
The three of them fought their way toward Drum Mountain. Due to the extreme cold, Luffy and Sanji's movements had inevitably become slower than before.
But the carnivorous rabbits were native to this winter island; the cold weather didn't affect them at all. They remained agile.
Furthermore, because they were on snow, Luffy and Sanji couldn't fully put the power of their punches and kicks behind their blows. Even when they sent the rabbits flying, the creatures landed on the soft, fluffy snow and took virtually no damage, quickly getting back up to attack again. This also showed how tough and thick-skinned these rabbits were.
"We have to get to that doctor's castle, fast! Get out of the way, you damn rabbits!"
"If this keeps up, we won't shake them off even by nightfall. We need to think of something!"
"Don't overthink it! We just need to run in the direction of that mountain!"
Chased relentlessly by the rabbits, Sanji, Tom, and Luffy were forced to leap onto higher cliff ledges, using the obese bodies of the rabbits as stepping stones. Yet the creatures still pursued them doggedly.
After some time, having desperately run towards Drum Mountain and scaled several cliff faces, they thought they'd finally lost the rabbits. Drum Mountain was right before their eyes. But to their surprise, the rabbits had somehow gotten ahead of them, reaching the summit first and cutting off their path.
It was clear the rabbits knew the local terrain well and had circled around from another route.
Luffy, carefree as ever, marvelled at their skill. "They're really something."
"They're quite organized and possess a certain degree of intelligence," Tom noted, clearly intrigued, though now was hardly the time for hunting.
Sanji had just warned Tom not to do anything rash when the multitude of rabbits standing on the summit began jumping up and down in unison, creating a thump-thump-thump sound.
Luffy wondered what they were doing, thinking they were just jumping around angrily. But Tom and Sanji's expressions changed drastically.
"Oh no! We have to run!" they shouted in alarm.
"What's going on?" Luffy asked, curious as he saw Sanji was so shocked he'd even dropped the cigarette from his mouth. "Where do we run to?"
"Anywhere! Just not here!" Tom yelled, turning and running without a second thought, Nami still on his back. "Hurry up! It's an avalanche!"
Hearing "avalanche," Luffy immediately turned and ran after Tom and Sanji. "This is bad! What do we do?"
"Damn it! I won't forgive those rabbits even if I die!" Sanji gritted his teeth, then spoke to Luffy and Tom. "Listen up, both of you! No matter what happens, the first priority is Nami! The second priority is also Nami! The third, fourth, and fifth priorities are all Nami! Got it? We protect her with our lives!"
Though Sanji's words seemed like a chaotic rant, they actually made Luffy and Tom realize the truth: even if they survived the avalanche, the gravely ill Nami would definitely die. So their most important task now was to find a way to escape the oncoming snow.
"What are we supposed to do now?!" Tom cried out.
No sooner had he spoken than he felt a slight tremor in the ground and heard a thunderous roar from a snow slope behind them, so loud it hurt his ears.
He whipped his head around and saw a hill-sized mass of snow break loose from the peak above. His vision was filled with nothing but a vast, white cloud of snowdust. The snowball grew larger as it tumbled, quickly becoming as huge as a mountain.
The mountain-sized snowball roared down with an ear-splitting, thunderous crash, an unstoppable force like a giant waterfall of ice and snow, mixed with countless ice chunks and rocks, mercilessly bearing down on Luffy, Tom, and Sanji, soon engulfing all three in its dark, colossal shadow...
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T/N :
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