Chapter 14: The Snow Angel

Back in the town of Big Horn, the community was busy digging the poor buildings out from the snow. The avalanche had completely engulfed the town's houses and even the people. Thankfully, it seemed that nobody was hurt. The Straw Hats proceeded to assist in any way they could. Nami and Vivi followed Dalton's lead but two members of the crew were less than helpful at the present moment.

"They've been gone too long," Usopp started to pace around. "We have no way of knowing how it is going up there or even if they survived that avalanche! Usopp the Brave will climb the mountain to get to them! Who's with me?!"

"It's Luffy," Nami rolled her eyes. "If you don't think he survived that, then clearly you don't have any faith in our captain."

"It's not right, I tell you!" Usopp crossed his arms. "I know we need a doctor and all, but Petrea is really causing us to risk a lot for one!"

Nami frowned. "You're just mad at her for beating you up back at Little Garden."

"Well, forgive me for not being entirely trusting!" he yelled. "I know she's trying to make up for everything that she did under Baroque Works, but you can't just change in one night!"

He then pointed over to the small teenager painting near Dalton's house and shook his head. "I mean look at Genevieve! She hasn't lifted a finger to help with the snow!"

"To be fair, she's famous for being rather lazy," Vivi pointed out.

"Are you really defending them?!" Usopp asked shocked. "You have more of a reason to hold a grudge than any of us! They targeted you for assassination! They are actively trying to destroy your home country! Does traveling with them not bother you at all?!"

The princess bit her lower lip and stared at the snow below her feet. "I...it's complicated."

"See!"

"But Damian has risked himself to help guard Luffy and Steven as they climb the mountain," Nami argued. "That has to say something."

Usopp waved it off. "Please, have you seen the way he looks at Petrea? There's something going on between them."

"I don't think so," Nami frowned. "I can pick up on these things. If it is, it's one-sided. Look, you know me. I'm not the most trusting person in the world, but I have this feeling that they are really trying. I mean, technically Vivi tried to kill us too."

The princess' face reddened and looked offended. "Hey! I already apologized for that! I was doing it for my people!"

"And they were doing it for their dreams," Nami reasoned. "Tit for tat. Still, it is about time that our little painter actually does something!"

She marched right over to the young girl and put her hands on her hips. "Oy! Genevieve! Are you done taking a break? We could use your help already!"

"I need to finish this," she simply responded.

"Finish what?! The house will still be here, the snow isn't going anywhere...what could possibly..." Nami started to yell before she stared at the canvas she was working on.

It was a painting of one of the snowmen placed in front of Dalton's house. It was the one that had the afro on its head and the sunglasses. Nami remembered that it was Steven's snowman and became confused. "What...?"

"The avalanche killed the snowpeople guarding the house," she explained while continuing to paint.

"Yes, yes. We all mourned the death of Snowzilla!" Usopp sauntered over. "Why is painting a snowman more important than helping out the townspeople?"

"Because..." she looked over and adopted the smallest of smiles. "It looked like Steven cared deeply about it. He'll be sad that it was gone. I wanted to preserve the memory for him."

Nami and Usopp exchanged a look. Vivi, who was observing from the distance, put her hand over her mouth in shock. 'Maybe Nami is right...maybe all they needed was something positive to rally behind...'

However, the moment of reflection was cut short by the arrival of new people. They wore jackets identical to the one that Genevieve was wearing and it was immediately apparent who they were: Wapol's Royal Guards.

"What?!" Dalton cried out in anger. "When did you get back?! Where is Wapol?!"

"Hush yourself, Dalton!" A brave soul stepped forward. "By the order of King Wapol, we have heard that the pirates who insulted him before have congregated on our island. His express command is to kill any and all painters, starting with the brat who hypnotized him!"

He pointed over to Genevieve. The girl looked to the left and then to the right. Finally she pointed to herself. "...me?"

"YES! DO YOU SEE ANY OTHER PAINTERS AROUND HERE?!" the man yelled. He then raised his rifle and pointed it at her canvas. "Die, you traitorous brat!

It happened suddenly, but the man instantly collapsed to the floor. In a flash, the other guards dropped like flies. The townsfolk and the pirates looked to see what happened.

"Ha ha!" Usopp cheered. "They never saw me coming!"

"What?! That was you?!" the townspeople gasped. "How did you do that so fast?"

"Quite simply, I used my..."

"Oh. It's you," Genevieve interrupted. She pointed to a near-naked man sheathing a sword next to the fallen bodies of Wapol's men.

"Mr. Bushido?!" Vivi's jaw dropped. "What happened to your clothes?!"

Usopp stared down at his feet dejectedly and in shame. "...I was going to stop them..."

"I went swimming and got caught up in the avalanche," Zoro shivered. "I came by hoping to get another coat."

"Didn't I get you a coat?" Genevieve asked, trying to look away at the sight.

"...I might have thrown it overboard as part of my training..." the swordsman explained.

"THEN YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" Usopp and Nami yelled at once.

Dalton looked at the fainted forms of the guards at his feet and stared off at the castle. "If Wapol isn't with them, then he must be heading towards the castle...I cannot allow our country to fall to ruin again."

"Then fear not, Dalton!" Usopp struck a manly pose. "I will climb the mountain with you!"

"What a laugh," Zoro chuckled as he put on a guard's jacket and pants. "You wouldn't even make it through the snow."

"HEY! DON'T MOCK ME! AT LEAST I'M SMART ENOUGH TO DRESS APPROPRIATELY!"

"We don't need to worry about that," Dalton started to walk away. "The avalanche revealed a pulley rope at Doctor Kureha's house near Gyasta. Anyone who wants to join me in reclaiming our country, come right ahead. We will save Drum Kingdom even if it means tearing everything down with it!"

*AGITR*

"You did what?!" Doctor Kureha cursed at her guests. Luffy, Sanji, and Damian had joined the doctor in Petrea's room while Steven had taken it upon himself to seek the reindeer out after learning his name.

"You said you didn't want to be part of the crew. The reindeer is a doctor who likes pirates, so we asked him to come with us," Luffy shrugged. "Got a problem with that, granny?"

The old woman twitched her eyebrow and hit the pirate so hard that he hit the wall. "Impudent brat!"

"Did we do something wrong?" Petrea asked.

"On the contrary, take the kid. It will do him some good. He's hurting...hurting more than he lets on," she gave a weak chuckle. "What about it, 'Straw Hat?' Can you cure his pain?"

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. "I'll do my best! Now I just have to convince him!"

"I don't get it," Sanji went to smoke a cigarette before the doctor shot him a look, which caused him to instantly put it away. "Why is the furball hurting?"

"He's been isolated for almost all of his life," she said as she took a drink and wiped the remnants of it off of her lips. "His fellow reindeer hated him, the townspeople called him a monster, and the one person who showed him friendship died. I think the blonde over there might have been the first person to call him a friend in five years."

"Well, she won't be the last!" Luffy said determined. "I'm going to go find him and make him a part of my crew no matter what!"

As he left the room, the old doctor couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't doubt that you will, punk. I don't doubt that you will. AS FOR YOU TWO!" she pointed to Damian and Sanji, who were trying to escape but were too noisy. "You aren't going anywhere! I still need to look your spine and ribs!"

"...I hate you, eyebrows. So very, very much."

"Feeling's mutual, shithead."

*AGITR*

The young half-Gem was in awe of the interior of the castle. Despite being inside, every crevice of every brick was covered in snow. The boy was near-frozen, but loved the sight ever so. However, he was on a mission and he was going to finish it. "Chopper? CHOPPER! You can come out now!" he called. "They aren't going to eat you!"

Steven then noticed that the door of this section of the castle was open and deduced that it was the cause for the snow. "Brrrr! Maybe...maybe I should close this before we freeze to death!"

"NO! DON'T CLOSE IT!" a voice yelled. It was the cute little reindeer, running toward him as fast as he could. Before Steven's eyes, he changed shape from the small form that he knew to a taller, more muscular form.

"...that's amazing!" Steven jumped, moving away from the door. "Chopper, how can you do that?!"

The larger Chopper stood between him and the door. "...this form doesn't scare you?"

Steven shook his head and then he noticed why the door was open: there was a small nest at the top of it. If he had closed it, the baby birds would have died. "Ahh! I almost hurt the birds! I'm so sorry, Chopper!"

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Chopper turned away.

"Why do you want to be alone?" Steven countered.

"What?" the reindeer asked.

The boy's smile disappeared. "If you can tell me why you want to be alone and it is a good reason, I'll go away. But if you can't, then I want to be your friend!"

"'Friend?'" Chopper returned to his natural, cute state. "But...don't you hate me? I'm a monster! I have a blue nose! I talk! I..."

"So what? Those are all really cool things!" Steven got closer to the reindeer. "Who cares if you are different? Look at me! I'm a half-alien boy with a rock in my stomach from a parallel dimension and I get along great with the others!"

"'Par...parallel dimension?' Is THAT why you have..." Chopper pointed to his stomach, which Steven exposed for the little guy. The pink quartz gem shone in the light, making the nearby snow shine a pretty pink. Steven thought it was beautiful, but Chopper surprised him. He bent down to the snow and held it in his paw. Then he moved it away from the gem's reflection and looked sad at the regular white color of it.

Steven flung himself down on the ground and started to move his arms and legs back and forth. "Come on! Make a snow angel with me!"

"Wha...what?" Chopper looked at Steven confusingly. The boy got up and showed off his finished product.

"See? It's a little woman! You try!"

The reindeer fell backwards in the snow and started to emulate Steven. He got up and looked sad. "Mine has antlers," he said dejectedly.

"Hmmm," Steven stared intently at the two figures and snapped his fingers. "You're right! That's a problem." He went to his own and started to draw similar-looking antlers on his own angel. "There! Now we are twins!"

"'Twins?'"

"Twins!"

Steven started to laugh and surprising even himself, Chopper did as well. The two laughed for many minutes, enjoying making snow angels, until Chopper immediately got up. He sniffed the air and adopted a look of fear.

"It's him!"

"What?! Not him!" Steven thought about it and cocked his head. "Um...who is 'him?'"

"Wapol! He's the bastard who disrespected the doctor! I can't allow him to hurt Doctorine and the doctor's dream!" With that, Chopper turned into a full reindeer and bolted away from the boy at full speed. He practically ran over Luffy, who had finally found the two of them.

"Hey! Chopper! Come join my...woah!" Luffy dodged the reindeer and jumped into a snowbank. "Wait! Come back!"

"We have to follow him, Luffy!" Steven helped him up. "He said that Wapol is back!"

"Wapol!" Luffy started to crack his neck until he blinked. "Um...who's that again?"

"I don't know!" Steven told him. "But Chopper hates him!"

"Then I hate him too! Let's go!"

The two ran as fast as they could to catch up to their animal friend. After what seemed like an eternity to the battered and bruised half-Gem, he still found the strength to keep going. He had not had to endure this much continuous action in his entire life, but he felt amazing on the inside despite the pain. He was FINALLY being trusted to help with missions. He was FINALLY trusted to be an equal and not coddled like he could be with the Gems at times.

Luffy believed in Steven.

By the time they almost made it out of the castle and to the edge of the mountaintop, the two warriors learned exactly who Wapol was. "Oh, hey; it's that pirate from before!" Steven recognized him from a distance.

"You mean the hippo-guy who almost had you shot," Luffy frowned. "Do you remember what we talked about, Steven?"

The boy nodded. He did not particularly like thinking about doing anything like that, but he was going to show his friend that he would fight with him until the end. Despite not knowing them very long, he felt just as protective of his new friends as he did the Gems.

"WHY IS THERE A PIRATE FLAG WHERE THE DRUM EMPIRE FLAG SHOULD BE?!" the fat king bellowed.

"That old thing? I burned that when you fled like a coward," a familiar voice mocked him.

Steven and Luffy exchanged looks. "The old lady?" Luffy asked.

"They are gonna hurt the nice doctor!" Steven worried.

"Chess! Kuromarimo! That flag is an insult to my perfect kingdom! Kill the old broad and her protectors while I burn it!" Wapol ordered.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"NO!" Chopper's voice called out. "DON'T TOUCH DOCTOR'S FLAG!"

"Hold back!" Luffy ordered.

Steven stopped, confused. "Why?! They are gonna hurt Chopper!"

"Sanji and Damian won't let that happen. I want to hear what he is going to say!"

The boy nodded, understanding that he wanted to let Chopper defend himself. Then he picked up on the other thing he said. "Wait? 'Sanji and Damian?!'"

"The hippo-guy said 'protectors!'" Luffy yelled before he ran out of sight.

"That's good," Steven whispered before he turned his attention back to Chopper.

"Doctor wanted to heal this country! You and your men are a disease that needs to be cured! I REFUSE TO LET YOU TOUCH DOCTOR'S SYMBOL OF HOPE!"

'Doctor?' Steven asked himself.

Steven watched Chopper lunge at Wapol while the now-visible forms of Damian and Sanji attacked Wapol's bodyguards. He was conflicted yet again. He wanted to help them, but he was told to stay back. However, when the hippo-man opened up his mouth and literally shoved the reindeer inside of it, Steven knew he had to act.

His stomach began to glow and he willed his shield into existence again. He grabbed the weapon and threw it with all of his might like a Frisbee at the man. His aim was true and it hit Wapol in the stomach so hard that he spit Chopper out. The reindeer flew in the air and Steven formed a bubble around him to soften the blow of landing in the snow.

"THE KING!" the man with the afro yelled. He started to run toward Steven, who created another shield to defend himself. Before he could do anything, his would-be attacker fell to the ground in an explosion.

"Don't touch the kid," Damian said while picking his nose. "Damn, I'm good."

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Chopper asked both Steven and Damian. "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

"Devil Fruit."

"Gem."

Chopper's jaw dropped as he took it all in. "But…but…"

"Just think of us as a bunch of monsters," Sanji joined in, kicking the other guard into the wall.

"'…monsters...'" the reindeer whispered.

"Sanji!" Steven clapped.

"The one and only. And this monster did that without Devil Fruits or weird rocks in my stomach! That was all me!" Sanji adjusted his jacket and grinned.

"WOW!" Chopper commented with awe.

"You do realize you three just swatted away the king and his most powerful aides like they were flies, right?" the old doctor asked.

Sanji looked to the ground and shrugged. "They were annoying."

"Did anyone ever tell you guys how odd you are?" Kureha laughed. "I like your guts, you brats!"

"A king?" Steven asked. "That guy wasn't even a pirate but a king? Aren't kings supposed to be good people?"

Damian nodded and suddenly looked a bit worried. "Damn, I didn't even think of that. I hope this doesn't blow up in our faces."

"Hahaha! You said 'blow up!'" Steven laughed.

"STOP ENCOURAGING HIM!" Sanji twitched his eyebrow.

"ALRIGHT, GUYS! I'M HERE!" the voice of Luffy rang out. He ran out from the castle, fully clothed this time, and looked to the ground where Wapol and his men were trying to get up. "WHAT?! I MISSED IT!"

"Where did you come from?" Sanji asked.

"I needed my coat! It was cold!" Luffy argued.

The cook shook his head in disappointment. "You should have been prepared, you idiot!"

Steven went over and patted his sullen captain. "It's okay, Luffy. You'll get them next time."

"Who…who do you think you are?!" Wapol coughed, rising off of the ground. "You dare…you dare strike the king?!"

"Oh, goodie!" Luffy clapped his hands together. "He's awake!"

"DON'T MOCK ME, BRAT!" Wapol spat at Luffy. "I will show you the true power of my Munch-Munch Fruit: the 'Munch-Munch Factory!'"

"…his Devil Fruit is called 'Munch-Munch?' Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. "That's a silly name!"

"SHUT UP! Chess, stand up and tell them what I've eaten today!" Wapol demanded.

"Yes…yes, sir!" the comical-looking man got up. "You ate a baked cannon, a fresh cannon, and cannon ball salad with a gun powder dressing! Oh, you also ate a deserted house we came across after we got you under that painter's spell."

The Straw Hats just looked at each other, not knowing exactly how to comprehend such a concept. "…that doesn't sound very appetizing!" Steven reacted with disgust.

"It's weird is what it is," Sanji concluded.

"Agreed," Damian and Luffy nodded.

"FOOLS! YOU DON'T GET IT!" Wapol forced himself to laugh. " My Devil Fruit allows me to absorb and assimilate anything I eat! All of those things…ARE NOW PART OF ME! MUNCH-MUNCH SHOCK!"

The king's body began to twist into several grotesque shapes. Steven and Chopper forced themselves to look away in horror while the others watched Wapol assume his new form. Finally, the two gazed eyes upon the new Wapol. His hands were now cannons and his body now resembled a house. The top of his hippo coat looked to be a cross between a cannon and a smokestack.

"THIS IS MY 'WAPOL HOUSE!'"