Luffy, Tom, and Usopp stood side-by-side at the bow, staring blankly at the lone figure standing on the sea's surface, their eyes wide.
Flakes of white snow settled on them, seemingly unnoticed.
"Hi there. It's really cold today, isn't it?"
The man with the quiver on his back, standing steadily on the water, suddenly greeted those on the Going Merry.
Only then did Luffy and the others react. It was indeed very cold, enough to give them goosebumps.
Just as they began discussing the weather, a huge wave rose from the sea, pushing the Merry backward and rocking it violently. As the ship pitched with the surging waves, Luffy and Tom quickly grabbed the railing. Usopp, slower to react, was thrown, rolling from the bow to the middle of the deck and crashing into the mast. Unfortunately, his nose was crooked again.
In the room, Vivi and Sanji, who were caring for Nami, along with Miss Goldenweek, were nearly thrown off their feet by the ship's sudden movement. The warm towel on Nami's forehead fell off.
As Sanji steadied Nami's bed, he shouted that if anything happened to Nami because those on deck weren't steering properly, he'd kill them.
"What's that?"
"Looks like a sliced-open watermelon."
"Is that... a ship?"
Luffy, Tom, and Zoro on the lookout perch stared at the huge spherical object emerging ahead. After surfacing, it unfolded from all sides like a peeled watermelon, slowly revealing a mast and sails. Once the transformation was complete and they saw the pirate flag flying from the mast, they realized it was a pirate ship. The man who had seemed to be standing on the water was actually standing on this submersible ship.
This pirate ship was several times larger than the Going Merry. At a glance, they could see many figures in thick cotton coats holding weapons. The bow was carved into a distinctive crown-wearing horse. Even the pirate flag featured a tongue-licking, crown-wearing animal.
"So, what do you think? Impressed?" Arrogant laughter came from the massive galleon. Their tone made their hostile intentions clear.
"Oh no, pirates!" Usopp said, nervously seeing the sizable crew on the other ship.
"Their ship is huge!" Luffy exclaimed, looking at the massive sailing ship.
"We don't have time for them now," Zoro stated truthfully. They were in a hurry to find a doctor; they had no spare time for pirates.
"They're really in the way," Tom said, noting the number of enemies. Dealing with them would take a bit of time.
Sanji, in the room below, sensed the commotion and told Vivi to keep caring for Nami while he went to check the situation.
"Are you scared?" Vivi asked, seeing Miss Goldenweek shrink to the side, shivering occasionally.
"I'm just a little cold," Miss Goldenweek shook her head, her small, upturned nose red from the chill.
Seeing Miss Goldenweek's tattered coat, which offered barely enough warmth at best, Vivi thought of mending it. Though inside, Miss Goldenweek was still a child, with less resistance to cold than an adult.
Truthfully, Vivi still had some misgivings about Miss Goldenweek being on board. After all, she was still a Baroque Works elite agent. Most importantly, no one knew if Miss Goldenweek had truly betrayed Baroque Works.
"You're a good person," Miss Goldenweek said, blinking her bright, lively big eyes at Vivi, who was mending her clothes. The girl sat hugging her knees.
Though Vivi's sewing skills weren't great, they were far better than Tom's method of just cutting clothes randomly with large scissors.
Hearing Miss Goldenweek's words and seeing the sincerity on her still-childish little face, Vivi was about to reply when Miss Goldenweek added, "He's a bad guy!"
Saying this, Miss Goldenweek seemed to grit her teeth, her small, tender hands clenched, lightly waving as if wanting to hit someone. Trying to look fierce, the shallow dimples with red dots on her cheeks only made her appear more adorable.
Vivi, curious that such a young girl could harbor such resentment toward someone, asked, "Who are you talking about?"
"Look, it's this person. Not only did he bully me, he gave me ragged clothes to wear!" Miss Goldenweek pouted, angrily pulling out a drawing.
Vivi saw it was a picture of Tom. However, the words "bad guy" were written on each of his cheeks in the drawing. Combined with Tom's fierce glare, it was quite funny. She couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"What are you laughing about?" Nami asked weakly, having slightly regained consciousness. Her face showed exhaustion, and her mental state wasn't good due to her illness. Seeing Vivi and Miss Goldenweek gathered around a picture, pointing and laughing, she couldn't help but feel curious.
Before Vivi could explain, Nami saw the ragged clothes Vivi was mending and exclaimed, "That's a jacket I bought for tens of thousands of Berries! I haven't even worn it yet! How did it get like this?"
"He did it," Miss Goldenweek immediately showed Nami the picture of Tom.
"That guy…" Nami's face, already pale from illness, completely darkened. She furiously poked the picture of Tom in Miss Goldenweek's hand as if it were the real person.
In moments, the feverish Nami had poked holes all over the picture, shocking both Vivi and the little girl.
But Nami was still gravely ill and soon lay back down, muttering about teaching someone a lesson.
Meanwhile, upon reaching the deck, Sanji found they were surrounded—more precisely, held at gunpoint.
"I ask you, what's going on?" Sanji said, lighting a cigarette with a match and taking a drag.
"Our ship is under attack," Luffy replied, also held at gunpoint.
"That's obvious just by looking," Tom said, stretching his muscles, ready to fight.
Zoro, though at gunpoint, remained calm. Only Usopp immediately raised his hands upon seeing the guns.
Sanji had guessed they were under attack when he came up, and he was right.
As Luffy told the boarders they were in a hurry, a short, fat man emerged from the enemy ranks. He had a huge mouth with metal plates on it, wore a bulky coat, and had purple hair on the sides of his head that resembled bird wings. Most notably, while speaking, he stuffed iron swords into his mouth, eating them with relish, stunning Luffy and the others.
This short, fat man who could eat iron swords raw was the captain of the White Tiger Pirates, Wapol.
"Hmm, only five in total? For a pirate crew to have so few members... it's just too..." Wapol chewed on iron fragments, sweeping a glance at the five men on the Merry. Though he didn't finish, his meaning was clear: he looked down on small crews.
Hearing the crunching sound of Wapol biting the iron, Usopp was so scared his tongue stuck out, saying just watching him eat swords looked painful. Even Luffy, the glutton, was astonished to see Wapol swallow knives.
Tom hadn't expected someone who could out-eat Luffy. At least Luffy knew metal tasted bad, but Wapol seemed to eat anything.
"We want to go to the Drum Kingdom. Do you have an Eternal Pose or Log Pose for it?" Wapol asked after swallowing an entire sword.
Sanji flatly said they had no pose for Drum Kingdom and hadn't even heard of the country.
Luffy thought Wapol would leave upon hearing they didn't have what he wanted. Instead, Wapol said life shouldn't be rushed and lingered.
Seeing a possible chance to help Nami, Tom asked if Wapol's ship had a doctor. If not for Nami's illness, Tom would have started punching long ago—he didn't like being held at gunpoint.
But Wapol said they had no doctor. Then, claiming he was hungry, he opened his huge mouth and bit off a section of the ship's railing in front of everyone, eating it.
"Hey! Don't eat our ship!" Luffy shouted angrily, seeing Wapol target the Merry.
"What is he?!" Usopp cried, usually busy repairing the ship, now seeing someone eat it.
Sanji, as a chef, had never seen someone who could eat anything. He was so shocked his cigarette nearly fell.
"Don't move! Lord Wapol is dining!" the men aiming guns at them sharply warned.
"You shut up!" Luffy rudely knocked down the one who warned them with a punch.
"If you don't have a doctor on board, then you're wasting my time!" Tom said, learning they had no doctor and were still eating the Merry. As Luffy struck, Tom used Soundless Step to appear before the short, fat Wapol, who was still chewing wood, and proceeded to give him a thorough beating.
Seeing Luffy and Tom act, Zoro and Sanji, who were already itching to fight, immediately launched into Wapol's subordinates, slashing and kicking wildly, sending them into total defeat.
As for Usopp, he quickly climbed the mast like a lizard as soon as the fight started.
The crew still on the galleon, the White Tiger, thought Luffy and the others were idiots for seeking death. They soon realized their mistake. The boarders on the Merry were taken care ofalmost completely in no time, with few left standing. Worse, Wapol was being pinned to the ground and beaten, leaving them stunned.
"Don't you know we're in a hurry to find a doctor?"
"With so many people on your ship, you don't even have a doctor? What are you even doing out here?"
Tom's mood was already poor due to Nami's illness. Poor Wapol had hit a steel plate, becoming his punching bag.
By the time Vivi heard the gunshots and came out, Wapol had been beaten beyond recognition—nose crooked, eyes askew, and his huge mouth swollen several times over.
Sanji and Zoro had also mostly cleaned up the enemies. Seeing Vivi, Sanji asked how Nami was. Tom also asked. Vivi honestly told him it was best not to see Nami right now, or he'd be in trouble, leaving him completely confused, his head full of question marks.
Vivi froze for a moment at the sight of large numbers of people lying scattered everywhere on the deck. Just then, Tom kicked Wapol away. The miserable-looking Wapol got up and actually tried to eat more of the Merry, saying the ship tasted pretty good.
"You still want to eat?! I won't let you! I'll punch you away!" Luffy yelled, charging at Wapol.
Wapol saw Luffy coming and opened his huge mouth, biting down on Luffy's head, swallowing it whole.
Several of Wapol's crew, seeing Luffy's head get eaten, cheered, saying no one could resist the power of Wapol's Munch-Munch Fruit.
Unfortunately, their cheering didn't last. As Wapol complained about the thing in his mouth being hard to chew, he was blasted away by Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Rocket.
Seeing Wapol punched flying far away, turning into a dot of light in the sky, the crew of the White Tiger were so shocked their jaws nearly hit the ground. Tom and the others wore matter-of-fact expressions.
Recovering, Wapol's crew quickly gathered their men from the Merry. Fearing their Devil Fruit user captain would drown, they fled at top speed, leaving behind harsh words about remembering this and definitely coming back for revenge.
Soon, the massive sailing ship White Tiger gradually sailed away into the vast snowfall, disappearing from view.
Vivi had only briefly glimpsed Wapol, seeming to recall something, but said nothing more.
After dealing with Wapol, the crew went to check on Nami. This time, besides Zoro, Usopp was left outside to handle navigation.
"Is she hungry? If we feed her a hundred servings of meat, will she get better?" Luffy said, seeing Nami's painful appearance on the bed. He stretched his ears, chin, and nose, tying them into knots to amuse her. The semi-conscious Nami didn't react, but Miss Goldenweek was amused, immediately sketching Luffy's funny appearance.
"She's not even laughing!" Luffy said, deeply struck by Nami's still sickly appearance. He offered another idea: "What if we splash water on her? Would that cool her down?"
"You idiot!" Sanji and Vivi reached their limit and without hesitation knocked Luffy flying.
"It's your fault for not speaking clearly," Tom said to the collapsed Luffy. "You should have said to use hot water. Someone with a fever can't handle cold."
Hearing Tom, Vivi glanced at him, thinking, You're an idiot too. Are you really concerned about Nami?
As Sanji prepared to say something to Tom, Tom stroked his chin and said seriously, "I've actually thought of a method that might help reduce her fever."
"Your method better not involve pouring hot water on Nami-swan! If you dare, I'll kick you to death!" Sanji said with a serious expression.
"Relax. I wouldn't use such a stupid method," Tom said, seeing Nami so gravely ill. He had made up his mind to do something.
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T/N :
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