"Look! Over there, a cliff!"
"Let's get there, fast!"
"A huge amount of snow is coming down from above!"
Sanji, Tom, and Luffy shouted as they desperately sprinted towards a precipice to their right—the nearest high ground.
On the verge of being engulfed by the tumbling mountain of snow, they reached the base of the cliff face in the nick of time.
The avalanche's force was immense. With a thunderous roar, it obliterated everything in its path—trees and rocks on the mountainside were swept away and utterly destroyed.
Even though they'd made it to the cliff, the avalanche's power was far greater than they'd imagined. Even from this slightly higher position, the overwhelming tide of snow sweeping down could still bury them.
"Grab my fishing poles!" Tom had already figured out an escape plan while running. The moment they reached the cliff, he crouched down with Nami on his back, detached the two poles from his arm guards, and combined them into a single T-shaped handle.
"What are you doing?"
"Can this make us fly?" Sanji and Luffy asked, hastily grabbing the extended pole in Tom's hands.
Then, with one hand gripping the T-shaped handle and the other supporting Nami on his back, Tom jumped from the cliff with Luffy and Sanji just as the snow was about to swallow them.
Whoosh!
The moment they leaped, the T-shaped handle instantly transformed into a large hang glider, allowing them to swiftly glide down through the howling blizzard.
Although Tom used the glider to carry Luffy, Sanji, and Nami in low-altitude flight, the colossal wave of snow followed closely behind them. The danger was far from over.
"We're flying! This is awesome!" Luffy laughed excitedly, one hand on the handle, the other waving wildly.
"Now's not the time for playing!" Sanji snapped, his expression still tense as he glanced back at the pursuing avalanche.
"He's right. I'm worried those rabbits will catch up to us," Tom said. He figured the carnivorous Lapins had a degree of intelligence. Since they could trigger an avalanche, they probably had a way to chase them down.
Hearing Tom, Sanji asked, "What could they possibly do to follow us in this?"
"It's simple. They'll ski after us." Luffy's statement was immediately met with Sanji's skepticism.
"That's ridiculous. They're rabbits. How could they possibly ski?!" As he said this, Sanji looked back. His jaw dropped in shock. "The rabbits ARE skiing!"
Indeed, the carnivorous rabbits were skiing. They stood on thick, sturdy logs, riding the rapidly descending snow, pursuing the airborne group.
"See? It's a snow country. It's not weird for the animals here to ski."
"How is rabbits skiing not weird?! And they're about to catch up, and you're still laughing?!" Before Tom and Luffy could say more, Luffy laughed carefreely again. "They're getting really close! What do we do if they jump up and attack us?"
Thanks to the tailwind, the glider hadn't crashed, but given the rabbits' jumping power, an attack was entirely possible.
Sure enough, as soon as Luffy finished speaking, two particularly round rabbits leaped into the air, swinging their sharp claws at the glider from below.
"Damn fisherman, find a way to dodge!" Sanji yelled as the rabbits were about to land on the glider.
Gritting his teeth, Tom forced the glider to change direction. They avoided the attack, but this brought them even closer to the ground.
"If this continues, we'll crash! We need a plan!" Tom's mind raced.
Luffy spoke up. "Even if you tied Nami to your back with a rope, it'd be trouble if she fell off by accident."
"Shut up!"
"It's because it's too heavy, isn't it? This thing can't support the weight of four people," Sanji said. He'd already noticed: the glider could handle one or two people, but four was too much. As they glided downward, they were slowly descending. If they didn't do something, they'd soon hit the ground, where the raging avalanche would bury them.
"Damn fisherman, let me remind you of something," Sanji said, cutting off Tom before he could speak. His tone was serious. "Used properly, this thing can get Miss Nami safely past the avalanche. But if you keep flying, you'll end up back at the mountain's base."
"Even if you and Miss Nami land back at the foot of the mountain, I don't care what method you use, you have to take her to the castle at the summit to find the doctor!"
Just then, a rabbit launched itself from below. Sanji let go of the fishing pole handle and dropped straight down from the sky. He kicked the oncoming rabbit away, shouting up to Tom: "If you let anything happen to Miss Nami, I'll never forgive you!"
"And don't forget! You have to be gentle with a lady!"
Before Sanji could finish shouting, he was swallowed by the merciless snow.
It happened too suddenly. Before Tom or Luffy could stop him, Sanji had let go without hesitation, separating himself from the glider.
"You idiot! Who told you to act so recklessly?!" Both Tom and Luffy cried out in alarm as Sanji was buried by the snow in moments.
Under the avalanche's impact, even massive, hard rocks were easily destroyed. How could a mere human withstand such natural force? It would be a miracle if Sanji survived.
"I see him! Over there! I'll pull him up!" Luffy suddenly spotted a hand sticking out of the snow. He immediately stretched his arm down to pull Sanji back into the air.
Good, we can save Sanji, Tom thought.
But then he heard Luffy exclaim, "What is this?!"
Luffy had grabbed what was buried in the snow, but what he pulled back was only Sanji's glove. Sanji himself wasn't attached. Luffy's jaw dropped in shock.
"Leave him to me! You just take Nami to see the doctor at that castle!" As Luffy said this to Tom, he let go of the handle and dropped down.
Clearly, to save Sanji, Luffy didn't think twice before jumping from the glider himself.
A violent gust of wind blew, whipping up a vast sheet of white snow. Obstructed by the blizzard, Tom couldn't see what happened to Luffy.
With two people gone, the glider's speed increased, even showing a slight tendency to rise. But Tom felt no joy.
What if something happens to them?
Anxiety churned within him, but he knew he had to stay absolutely calm. Otherwise, everything Sanji and Luffy had done would be meaningless.
Unconsciously, Tom found the glider had brought him to the base of the mountain. He was back at the starting point.
The avalanche had stopped, but the storm was now much fiercer than before. The howling wind never ceased; snowflakes danced wildly in the air. The weather had grown even colder.
Attempting to climb to the summit again in these conditions would undoubtedly be far more difficult than before, taking multiple times longer. If they ran into that pack of rabbits again, there'd be no hope of getting Nami to the castle doctor today.
This is bad. What should I do?
Tom saw that even in her thick coat, Nami—still unconscious in the raging blizzard—shivered violently from the cold. Even with a fever of 42 degrees Celsius, her face felt icy to his touch.
After draping his own coat over her, her shivering finally stopped, and her body gradually warmed. Tom breathed a small sigh of relief.
But how do I get to the summit of Drum Mountain? If I just carry Nami and climb again, it'll take too much time, and there's no guarantee she'll hold on.
In the vast white wilderness, Tom held the unconscious Nami, looking around helplessly. He could feel Nami's breathing had become ragged and weak—her illness had likely worsened. Worried about Luffy and Sanji while also caring for Nami, his mind began to grow frantic.
Wait. I can't panic. There must be a way. Think. The most important thing now is to get Nami to a doctor.
Sanji has Luffy with him. If those two can trust me with Nami so completely, I should trust them too.
Finding a way to reach that castle in the shortest possible time is the only thing I need to do now!
Calming himself, Tom pushed aside the distracting thoughts. His mind cleared instantly.
Suddenly, he remembered what Dalton had mentioned: the "Witch" doctor would ride a sleigh pulled by a strange creature down from the mountain. That meant there must be a direct route from the summit of Drum Mountain to the base.
Realizing this, Tom quickly hoisted the unconscious Nami onto his back and scanned his surroundings.
There! That's it!
Not far away, he spotted a thick rope running diagonally upward from the mountain's base toward the towering, cloud-piercing peak of Drum Mountain. The Witch Doctor must use this rope to travel quickly from the high summit to the base.
But Tom wasn't like the Witch Doctor. He didn't have a single animal hair around him. It was obvious any nearby animals had likely been scared off by the avalanche or buried under the thick snow.
Tom wanted to spend more time thinking of a way to use the thick rope to ascend against the wind as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, no good ideas came to him in the short term. Just then, Nami on his back coughed several times, rapidly and painfully.
Looks like I can't delay any longer!
If there's no tool, then I'll just grab that rope and carry Nami up to the castle!
It's dangerous, but it's the fastest method to reach the summit now. It's better than spending ages climbing the mountain and then scaling that impossibly tall peak!
"Alright! Even if that rope leads to hell itself, I have to go through it!"
Recalling the words Sanji and Luffy had entrusted to him—to definitely take Nami to the castle doctor—Tom took a deep breath, looked at the thick rope stretching diagonally upward into oblivion, and made his decision.
He acted immediately. Once near the rope leading to Drum Mountain's summit, Tom took precautions to prevent Nami from falling during the climb.
He took a component with Soft-Soft particles from his belt, using the softened fishing pole as a cord to securely tie Nami to his back. Only then did he leap up, grab the thick rope above, and hang upside down from it.
In the raging blizzard and bitter cold, he began hauling himself hand over hand up the rope.
Silvery snowflakes fell continuously from the sky. After hanging upside down and climbing with Nami on his back for a while, Tom's hands were already raw and bleeding.
The rope was incredibly coarse.
Perhaps worn down by repeated sled use, many parts of the rope had tiny, needle-like fibers sticking out. With every few pulls upward, these fibers stabbed into his palms.
The temperature was well below -20°C. The countless tiny fibers piercing his palms made Tom grimace in pain, but he didn't utter a single cry. He didn't want to disturb Nami on his back.
If Nami realizes we're hundreds of meters in the air, hanging upside down from a rope, and she dies of fright, that would be the worst.
Thinking this, Tom gritted his teeth and kept climbing.
His coat was on Nami; he wore only thin clothing. His hands were frozen stiff, and he had frostbite in multiple places. The biting, bone-deep pain was unbearable for any ordinary person.
But he knew he couldn't let go.
The storm grew fiercer, the freezing gale roaring against him like an angry beast. If he fell from the rope now, even if he could deploy the net-launcher parachute and land safely with Nami, the powerful wind would have blown them who-knows-where.
If that happened, all his effort would be wasted. With Nami so critically ill, he couldn't take that gamble. He had to persevere.
The fierce, biting wind blasted into his face, making it hard to even keep his eyes open. He couldn't see where the rope ended. All he could do was endure the deep, marrow-piercing agony from the frostbite across his body, grip the rope tightly with both hands, and keep moving forward.
Clumps of snow blown by the wind settled on him. Even though he was hanging upside down, some of the snow accumulated on his head didn't fall off. At a glance, it looked as if his hair had turned white overnight.
In her haze, Nami's eyes fluttered open. She saw Tom's head full of "white hair." It took her fever-addled mind a moment to comprehend their situation.
Nami stared blankly at the man carrying her, hanging upside down from a rope and moving forward at a steady pace.
She noticed one thing: from the moment she regained consciousness, Tom had maintained an incredibly steady rhythm!
An ordinary person, dressed in thin clothes in extreme cold, with widespread frostbite and shredded hands, would have long been crying out in pain, their body trembling uncontrollably, likely even passing out.
But Tom wasn't. The frostbite and the inhuman pain seemed to have no effect on him. He continued forward at that same, unwavering pace.
Nami didn't know what kind of willpower it took to endure such torment. But she understood one thing: the man hanging upside down on the rope maintained that constant speed for one reason—to keep the journey as smooth as possible for her, so she could rest.
The blood dripping from Tom's hands, caught by the freezing wind, crystallized into red ice crystals mid-air.
Blood freezing into ice!
Seeing this, Nami knew the temperature had to be at least -40°C.
Coupled with being hundreds of meters up, where the wind was even stronger, each gust slicing over Tom's body like a blade—and they were climbing against the wind—the man hanging and climbing upside down in these brutal conditions hadn't altered his pace once from start to finish.
Nami gazed at the man carrying her, her eyes growing moist.
"Are you awake?" Tom asked. He thought he'd heard something like a sob from behind him. Feeling the slight, occasional tremble against his back, he knew he hadn't misheard.
"Don't look down. Just go back to sleep. When you wake up, everything will be back to normal. Your illness will be cured, and we can continue our adventure on the sea. I'll catch all kinds of animals you've never seen before for you to play with! Hahahaha!"
As Tom spoke, a violent gust shook the rope violently. Hanging upside down, he could only clench his teeth, gripping the rope with hands so numb, swollen, and pained they felt alien.
"Mmm... I won't leave you," Nami whispered, her voice soft and gentle. A single, clear tear finally escaped her stinging eye. Caught by the wind, it mingled with a drop of blood falling from Tom's hand, instantly transforming into a red-and-white crystal that scattered on the wind.
Glistening snowflakes fell endlessly from the sky, dancing in the wind. Hundreds of meters in the air, a man carried a woman, hanging upside down from a thick rope. Though the situation seemed perilous, the woman on the man's back, traces of tears still visible on her beautiful face, had fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep.
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T/N :
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