Murder in the cold

'Snow? Usually it only snows on the Grand Line near winter islands. Could it be our first island will be a winter island. But this close to the entrance… maybe it could be Chopper's home?! Only one way to find out.'

As it started snowing we all went inside, not willing to be freezing there in the cold. That's when we realized a problem awaiting us.

We don't have any winter clothing… No one has any winter clothing.

"…If our destination really is a winter island, than I really hope that it has a town with a clothes shop that are easy to find."

"Me too."

"Me as well."

One by one we all agreed with Robin. Staying on a winter island in a t-Shirt and shorts isn't something I feel like trying and neither did the others.

Later that day we finally spotted an island. It was the one the log pose pointed at and it really turned out to be a winter island.

After anchoring the ship beneath a cliff ledge, we went and stepped onto the island from the cliff side, it was fairly easy since Sabo just made the ship levitate.

Just as expected everything was covered in snow. The ground. The forest around half a mile away. The mountain in the distance. Everything was snow and ice.

"It's fricking cold! Jackson-nii can you perhaps sense a town or something?"

"If we stay out in the cold long enough we will freeze to death and our icy corpse would then either become nature's work of art or food for animals."

"…"

'Robin just makes me speechless in more than one way. It was a bit more than what was shown in the show but maybe this could mean that she is slowly opening up to us..?'

'Let's just ignore what she said.'

"…Aren't you all overreacting? Look there is a forest right there! We can just make a fire if we get too cold."

Penguin suggested but making a fire with cold frozen wood isn't easy if you don't have the tools. If this island really doesn't have a town we can just stay inside the ship.

Not willing to linger around longer than needed I scouted the island from above using geppo. Luckily on the other side of the mountain was a big city, close enough to reach it before night falls.

After walking for the rest of the day we reached the city I saw from above. It was protected by a sturdy city wall with a lot of guards patrolling.

"Hey, over there. Look at the guards."

"hmm?"

Doing as Augur asked us we focused our sight on the guards.

"What the… They look like 'half-machines'…?" (Kuina)

"Seems like they are cyborgs. What now? Do we just enter from the front gate? Jackson-nii might not be as infamous here on the Grand Line as he was in East Blue?"

'Dafuq? Could it be that we are on Karakuri island and doubt the Future Land Baldimore?!'

"No need to risk anything. I am sure we aren't the first pirate crew about to enter this city so there should be some way other than the heavily guarded gate. (Law)

"Regardless of the method can we hurry up a bit?"

Upon Robin's urging we decided to look for a quiet place and use Sabo's devil fruit once more. From there we walked around until Robin found an inn where we got some rooms.

The inn, as well as most of the other buildings was mostly metallic. Not only that but also strangely modern technology wise. The people wore some futuristic looking Gadget on their heads and many seemed to have cyber-modification done to them, judging by the metallic limbs and or the shining eyes.

The following day we went shopping for whatever we felt we needed, be it books, training equipment or clothes, before separating and going around the town to kill some time.

I am currently sitting with Kuina and Robin in a cafe… well more like outside than inside but it wasn't cold thanks to the chairs they had. They had some kind of special heating technology than once activated it would be keeping your whole body warm.

"And then he told me 'Sorry but that's not an option' while acting all firm and forceful."

"Ehh?! Jackson did that? Doesn't that mean you were forced to join?!"

Kuina's facial expression were quite the sight when Robin told her how I 'recruited' her.

"What's with that look? In the end she agreed to my proposal and the rest is history. Everything is well that ends well and so on."

!

After a little while longer I wanted to ask them to go back when I suddenly sensed something.

'interesting…'

I thought and looked in a certain direction.

(AN: could this be another cliffhanger-kun?!...Just a joke)

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3rd Person point of view

On a high tower building in the Future Land Baldimore, around half a mile from Jackson away.

A man, between 30 and 40 years old, wearing a futuristic eye Gadget was setting up his sniper on the edge of the tower building. He wore a black suit with white stripes and a matt black shirt, the same color as his gloves, contrary to his white necktie. His black pelt coat and cylinder hat he took off and put them to the side.

"51 million plus 79 million and 6 million, I am about to become filthy rich! My biggest prey so far but he will be no different from all the others. All thanks to this little death bringer I found in that laboratory."

The man mumbled something while finishing his preparations. The sniper gun he is setting up looked strangely futuristic. It looked like the 'Alone as god' sniper rifle from Destiny 2.

As he finally finished his preparations the man took aim at a boy, sitting in a caffee with a girl and a beautiful woman and was ready to fire, his finger already on the trigger and about to pull

*clank*

This familiar sound he suddenly heard from behind him made the man stop instantly.

"I thought I had seen a rat… but it turns out it was a bounty hunter all along, brazenly aiming for my captain's head at that."

The voice he heard next made it clear that he fucked up. The man didn't realize that someone had snuck up on him. To his defense he didn't think anybody would come up here for whatever reason there might be.

"…Who are you?"

"Is that what's important to a dead man?"

Hearing this, he finally seemed to realize how dangerous his current situation is. One wrong move or word and he would be a goner.

"Listen to me first! It's nothing personal, I'm just doing my job as bounty hunter."

"So? I'm just doing my job as pirate and sniper of the crew."

"No wait!"

He couldn't recklessly try to turn around since he had a rifle aimed at his head just a few centimeters away from him but that reply gave him some information about who was behind him.

"How about you let this one go. I don't recall seeing a bounty for the crew's sniper so if you let me go I will share with you the reward. NO I will give you all of it. You could live the rest of your life comfortably like a noble instead of following a snotty brat."

"Snotty brat? You aim to kill my captain, try to bribe me into betraying him and then insult him like it's nothing. We must look like a joke to you."

"No please let me-"

*bang*

"I have already let you talk more than I should have."

The bounty hunter didn't get to finish his last sentence before a bullet was shot through his head. The killer, Van Augur, looked at his corpse like one would at any random object. Unbothered and without special meaning.

But his look changed the next second when he saw the sniper. Something about it seemed to attract him.

A few hours later, when only a half naked corpse was left on the tower, another man, wearing a cylinder hat and a suit appeared. Unlike the bounty hunter this one wore a mask and was currently reporting something via a transponder snail.

"Yes the tester we let 'find' the prototype is dead. The weapon is also gone. Awaiting orders."

An annoyed voice answered him.

"Find the prototype as quickly as you can! If the World government finds out that we managed to reproduce one of Vegapunk's prototypes then our spies will be done for. We can't let them know that we got our hands on his research data."

"Understood. About the current owner of the prototype…"

"No witnesses."

"Understood!"

After finishing the report and receiving new orders the man vanished from where he stood and only the corpse was left on the tower.

(AN: Hey everyone! It's been a while since I uploaded. Sorry for that but I had quite the week, so much do that I didn't feel like writing and instead used some free time to read instead. It's been a while for me since I just read online novels but I recently found a funny one so I took my time. My current motto is if you don't feel like writing then don't write. After all this is supposed to be a hobby and not a chore. Hope for your understanding and that you still enjoy reading my story. By the way the sniper Augur picked up is seriously an insane weapon with a special feature. I'll let you guess what it is but it will boost him to at least a vice-admiral level if not make him slightly stronger. Bye!)