95Disclaimer: One Piece and Ben 10 do not belong to me.
Hiya folks! Happy late Easter! Sorry for the late update, but I'm not one to give out excuses and whatnot so I'll get right down to it: I AM SO SORRY! Seriously. OK, enough with the drama. Now onto business. Just a little heads up, there's not a whole lot of fighting in this chapter. It was mostly used to deal with the gang getting to Drum Island.
Welcome to Drum Island
Kevin never felt so miserable in his entire life. After Gwen had collapsed, Nami and Vivi had carried her to the girls' room and placed her in one of the beds. But that did little to help her. Gwen's cheeks were red from the fever and she was sweating a lot. Standing in the room with her was pretty much everyone except Zoro, who said that he would navigate for a bit. Everyone was more concerned about Gwen so they didn't give it a second thought.
Sanji, who was also in the room, was looking heartbroken at Gwen. "Is Gwen-chan going to die?" he asked.
Kevin resisted the urge to punch Sanji right in his face. Gwen was sick and he was not going to do something to upset her.
"Maybe it's because of the weather," Vivi suggested. "One of the toughest obstacles in the Grand Line that everyone has to face is the sickness that is caused by the constant change in weather."
"I doubt it," Kevin said. "The weather's been fine so far."
"Didn't you three notice the weather change before you came to Whiskey Peak?" Nami asked Kevin and Ben curiously.
Kevin and Ben looked at each other nervously. They wouldn't know because Paradox had teleported them straight to Whiskey Peak.
"No," they both said.
Nami frowned. How in the world could they not have noticed weather changes in a place like the Grand Line? "Maybe it wasn't the weather," she admitted. "Otherwise the rest of us would have gotten sick."
"Maybe she should eat chicken noodle soup," Ben suggested.
"That works for colds," Sanji said. "But I don't know if Gwen has a cold or not."
"Can't she use her magic to make herself feel better?" Luffy asked.
Kevin glared. "Does she look like she's able to do anything right now?"
"But why is Gwen the only one sick?" Ben asked. "Why aren't the rest of us sick?"
"It has to be something that happened to Gwen that didn't happen to us." Nami said.
Kevin's eyes widened. "Hold on a second. Back at Little Garden, Gwen had said something bit her. Thought it was a mosquito but…"
"That has to be it!" Nami said.
"Okay," Ben said. "Who on the ship is a doctor?"
Luffy and Usopp automatically pointed at Nami. "Hey!" she protested. "Sure I know some stuff but I don't know about this."
Kevin was angry. "You mean…you don't have a doctor on this ship?" He turned on Luffy. "What kind of crew is this if you don't have a doctor?"
"I'm with Kevin on this one," Ben said, looking slightly less ticked then Kevin was. "Don't you think it would be best if a doctor was on board?"
Nami nodded. "It's a good idea."
"Well come on!" Kevin said. "What are we waiting for? Gwen's sick and the rest of you are treating this like it's normal! Come on, move your butts already!"
Vivi, who had placed a thermometer in Gwen's mouth a few moments ago, pulled it back out. She was shocked at the results. "Her temperature is 104 degrees!"
"What?" Kevin and Ben both cried simultaneously.
Nami bit her lip. "Her fever's getting worse."
"We can find a doctor in Arabasta," Usopp pointed out. "How long does it take to get from here to Arabasta, Vivi?"
Vivi looked at her feet. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I don't think we can make it there in a week."
Usopp scratched his chin. "Couldn't we use Terraspin to help us get to Arabasta faster?"
"Even if Ben did use Terraspin," Nami said. "There's a chance that Gwen's fever might get worse. I don't think we should take a chance without an official doctor.
"Hey, Ben," Sanji said, looking at him. "Don't you have something in that gizmo of yours that can heal Gwen?"
Ben frowned. "Believe me," he said. "If I did, I would have done it in a heartbeat by now."
"Does a fever make you feel that bad?" Luffy asked curiously.
Kevin, annoyed by Luffy's ignorant attitude, angrily grabbed Luffy by his vest. "Want to know how bad it feels?" he threatened.
"That's enough, Kevin," Ben told him sternly.
"What is wrong with all of you?" Kevin demanded. "Gwen's getting worse and none of you seem to care."
"Of course we care, Kevin," Luffy told him. But this only made the Osmosian glare at him.
"You sure don't look like it," Kevin told him.
"I've never been sick before," Luffy admitted.
Kevin narrowed his eyes. "Well, we can't all be as lucky as you, Luffy."
"Kevin's right," Nami said. "We've got to do something. 104 degrees is bad for anyone. If we don't do something fast, she might die."
Kevin felt as if time froze for him. Gwen? Die? No. No, she couldn't!
Ben looked at the ground as he felt a heavy weight inside of him.
"Aaaaaah!" Luffy, Usopp, Sanji, and Carue all cried. Kevin and Ben flinched. Whether it was from Nami's words or the group's reaction was unknown.
"Gwen's gonna die?" Luffy cried. "Gwen-chan!" Blubbered Sanji, who had his hands clasped in prayer. "Please don't die!" Usopp and Carue were merely shouting their heads off.
Kevin tightened his fists before facing them. "WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?" He roared.
That immediately caused everyone to fall silent as they looked at Kevin in shock. Then they saw the look of pain and emotion on his face. Nami could tell that this was naturally affecting Kevin, and Ben who looked like a zombie right now, the hardest. But it seemed that out of the two of them, Kevin was really taking this the hardest.
"Guys," She said. "We have no choice. We need to find a doctor right now. I don't what disease this is, but I don't think Gwen's gonna make it all the way to Arabasta like this."
Vivi looked at the sick Gwen. She nodded. "You're right. We need a doctor for Gwen."
Luffy nodded as he folded his arms. "Alright! Let's go find a doctor to cure Gwen!"
Kevin looked like he was ready to throttle Luffy. "Keep your voice down, you rubber idiot!" he snapped. "You're gonna disturb Gwen."
"You…already woke me up…Kevin,"
Everyone turned at the bed to see Gwen looking up at them. But she looked exhausted. Kevin immediately felt guilty for his previous outburst.
"I'm sorry, Gwen," He mumbled.
"It's fine, Kevin," Gwen said with a sigh. Weakly, she started sitting up.
"Yay!" Luffy cheered. "Gwen's cured."
Usopp smacked him in the back of the head. "It won't be that fast."
"Hey, now," Nami said, stopping Gwen. "It's best if you just get some rest, Gwen. You shouldn't be up and about with a fever like that."
"But…"
"Don't worry, Gwen," Luffy said with a grin. "We'll find a doctor to take care of you."
Gwen weakly looked at him and smiled. "Thank you, Luffy." She looked at the others. "Thank you."
Nami smiled as she patted the top of Gwen's head. "Don't worry about it, Gwen. You just get some rest. I'm gonna go and see how Zoro's doing." With that Nami walked out of the room. Once she left, everyone's attention was back on Gwen.
"Do you feel better, Gwen?" Luffy asked.
Gwen shook her head. "Sorry, Luffy."
"It's okay, Gwen," Kevin said softly to her. "Just rest now."
"That's right," Ben said. "Leave the rest to us."
"Hey!" Zoro yelled from outside. "Get your butts out here!"
Ticked off, Kevin stormed out the room while the others followed after him. "What's the big idea?" he demanded from Zoro.
"We're changing the ship's course to south," Zoro replied calmly. Unfortunately his laid back personality was really ticking Kevin off. Especially with Gwen being sick like this.
"I don't feel like working with you ordering me," Sanji snapped at Zoro. Kevin nodded in agreement. Personally he wanted to be back in that room making sure that Gwen was alright.
"Shut up and do it," Zoro said. "Take the sail out."
Kevin snarled and was about to retort when someone grabbed his shoulder. He turned to see Ben shaking his head at him.
"I know how you're feeling," Ben told him. "But picking fights with everyone is not going to make Gwen feel better."
Kevin grumbled as he shook Ben's hand off and started to help the others. Ben looked at him leave before looking at Nami.
"Nami, how come we're changing course?"
"There's a storm coming," Nami answered.
Ben raised an eyebrow. "Storm?" He looked at the sky. While it was dotted with clouds, none of them looked capable of bringing a storm. "The weather looks fine to me."
"Never underestimate the Grand Line, Ben," Nami told him. "The weather's constantly changing." She grinned at him. "Lucky for us you've got Terraspin. His wind powers are perfect for a ship."
Vivi nodded. "With the Eternal Pose and Terraspin, the journey will go by smoother," Then she looked down. "But we still need a doctor for Gwen."
Zoro looked up. "A doctor? It's gotten that bad?"
"Yeah," Nami said. "And we don't how much worse it's gonna get." She paused and looked off into the sea. A troubled look was on her face.
"What's wrong, Nami?" Ben asked her.
Nami's eyes narrowed as she looked at the sea. "Something's coming toward us," she said. "It's a little different than a regular storm."
Vivi now had a worried look on her face too.
"Is it really that bad?" Ben asked.
Vivi nodded. "The Grand Line's weather is unpredictable." She looked at Nami. "But you're sure that a storm is coming?"
Nami nodded to her. "Yeah. There's something coming towards us. We need to get this ship turned around and start moving as soon as possible. Ben, you might want to get Terraspin ready."
"Got it," Ben replied as he went up to the upper deck of the ship. He looked at the others. "Ready guys?"
"Ready, Ben!" Usopp called out.
Grinning, Ben activated the Ultimatrix, switched the dial to Terraspin, and then slammed the dial down. In a flash of green light, Terraspin stood for all to see.
"Time to kick things up," Terraspin said in his gloomy voice. He dove into his shell and unleashed his wind powers upon the sail. As soon as he did, the ship rocketed forward, causing everyone to stumble backwards from the force.
"Yahooo!" Luffy called as the ship picked up speed.
Nami on the other hand looked back at where they just were. Her eyes widened when she saw that a cyclone had formed. So she was right.
Vivi had noticed Nami looking back, so she did too since she was curious as to why Nami would look back in the first place. When she saw the cyclone and realized that was where they had been before Nami made them turn around, she was amazed.
Incredible. Vivi thought. They say that cyclones in the Grand Line are storms that you can't predict but…She looked at Nami, who was still staring at the cyclone. She doesn't just have navigating skills. It's as if she feels the changes with her instincts. I've never met a navigator like her before.
"Keep going, Ben!" Luffy cheered. "Keep heading south so we can find a doctor!"
Yeah!" Usopp, Sanji, and Zoro said. Carue quacked in agreement.
The only one who didn't say anything was Kevin, who simply looked back at the girls' room where Gwen was still resting.
Gwen. He thought. Hold on.
It was night time now. Mostly everyone was in the galley eating dinner. Nami had taken her food to the room so she could finish on some charts she was making. And to keep an eye on Gwen, who she would occasionally look at while working on her charts. She was so focused on only Gwen and her charts that she jumped a little when she heard a knocking at the door. She figured it had to be either Ben or Kevin. While the crew got along with the three new members, Ben, Kevin, and Gwen knew each other longer than the others. She walked over and opened the door. Sure enough, Kevin stood in the doorway.
"Hey, Nami," Kevin said in a low voice so he wouldn't disturb Gwen. "Can I come in?"
Nami nodded. "Sure thing."
Nodding as a thank you, Kevin walked in and was immediately by Gwen's side. "How is she?"
Nami looked at Gwen sadly. "Her fever hasn't gone down," she replied. "But at least it hasn't gotten worse."
Kevin snorted. "Yeah, for now." He took Gwen's hand in his and gently squeezed it.
Nami's eyes softened as she looked at the tender moment between Kevin and Gwen. "You really care about her, don't you?"
Kevin looked at Nami for a minute before looking back at Gwen. "You have no idea." He replied. He brought a hand to her forehead and gently ran his fingers through her hair. "She's done more for me than anyone else ever did." He closed his eyes. "And I never deserved any of it."
Nami smiled a little at Kevin. Even though the guy was often a smart aleck and a punk, when it came to Gwen…some tenderness would show.
The next day things had taken an unusual turn. It was snowing outside. And Gwen's fever had not improved. Due to the snow, Kevin was not in the mood to have Gwen get worse. Nami had Sanji go to the kitchen and prepare some warm soup for Gwen. She also did it so that way Kevin wouldn't get mad at Sanji for fawning over Gwen.
"Come on, Gwen," Kevin whispered gently to her as he took her hand in his again. "Just hold on. We'll find you a doctor soon."
Vivi and Nami shared a worried glance with each other. They were completely helpless since they didn't know what this disease was that Gwen had. And so far it was taking its toll on two people: Gwen and Kevin.
Back outside, the other boys were keeping busy. Their main job was keeping an island out for any islands that might have a doctor on it. Zoro was looking around the seas with a pair of binoculars. "Hey!" he called down to the others.
Luffy looked up at him. "See any doctors?" He asked.
Ben frowned at Luffy. "We're in the middle of the ocean." He said.
Usopp nodded. "Ben's right, how do you expect to find doctors out here?"
Zoro continued looking through the binoculars."Have you seen someone stand in the middle of the ocean before?" he asked.
Well that was a weird thing to say. "Come again?" Ben asked Zoro.
"A person standing in the middle of the ocean?" Luffy asked.
Usopp looked at Zoro skeptically. "Have you gone insane, Zoro?"
Zoro looked straight ahead. "Then what do you all think of that?"
"Huh?" Ben, Luffy, and Usopp all looked in the same direction as Zoro. Then they had to rub their eyes to make sure that they weren't seeing things.
For sure enough, there was someone standing out there in the middle of the ocean. It was a large man dressed in some kind of outfit similar to that of a jester. A large bow and a quiver of arrows hung around his back. He just looked at them casually.
"Uhhhhhh," Ben said. "Ooookay. There's someone standing in the middle of the ocean."
"Looks like it's gonna be cold today," the strange man said with wide, wavy lips.
Ben sweatdropped. "Uh, sir? Do you know you're standing in the middle of the ocean?"
Just then a rumbling noise seemed to come from underwater. Before anyone could say anything, a ship came out of the water. It had a large dome on it, resembling a circular submarine. The top part of a sail stuck out of the dome. The jester looking man was standing on in the crow's nest, which explained how it looked like he was walking on water. When it rose up, it caused waves that rocked the Straw-hat's ship, the Merry Go.
"What is that?" Luffy cried as he looked up at the giant ship. "A watermelon?"
Ben, who has hanging onto the railing, looked at Luffy. "How in the world does that look like a watermelon?"
In the kitchen, Sanji was moving back and forth to catch all the dishes that were flying here and there.
"Hey!" he yelled. "Control the ship! If anything happens to Gwen-chan's soup, I'm kicking all of you overboard!"
Back in the girls' room, Nami and Vivi had been knocked to the floor by the shaking. Kevin practically threw himself onto Gwen so that she wouldn't fall off the bed.
"Why is the room shaking?" Vivi asked as she tried to get back up to her feet.
Nami growled as she looked at the door. "What are those idiots doing?"
Kevin glared at the door. "I don't know but I'm about to find out. You two look after Gwen." With that, Kevin stomped to the door and threw it open. "Alright just what is…" Then his eyes landed on the strange ship in front of them. "What the…?"
Just then the dome split into different sections and lowered into the water. With the dome gone, everyone could see that it was a colossal ship with a figure head that resembled the face of a hippo wearing a crown.
"Are you surprised?" A voice called from the ship. "This is our war submarine, Bliking!"
Kevin growled in annoyance. "We don't have time for this."
"This is bad," Usopp grimaced. "It's a pirate ship!"
"So cool," Luffy said as he looked at the large ship.
Ben frowned at him. "Is this really the time, Luffy?"
Zoro narrowed his eyes at the ship. "Why are they here while we're busy?"
Back at the kitchen, Sanji managed to set all the dishes down with dropping a single one. After checking to make sure that nothing happened to Gwen's soup, he decided to find out what the heck was going on outside. "Hey!" he called as he walked out the kitchen. "What happened?"
The next thing Sanji knew, he was surrounded by men wearing thick coats who had guns aimed straight at him. Calmly, Sanji drew his matchbox out of his pocket. Pulling a match out, he scratched it across the box so that it could ignite and then he used it to light the cigarette in his mouth.
"So," he said. "What's going here?"
"Our ship is under attack," Luffy said from his spot, where he too was surrounded by gunmen and swordsmen. In fact, everyone was surrounded by these invaders.
"Really?" Sanji asked Luffy casually. "That's what I thought, too. Based on what I see."
Kevin glared at the enemies. "You guys have a death wish?" he threatened them. But the invaders, cocky because of their numbers and weapons, merely snickered at Kevin's threat.
"Hmm," new voice said. "6 people? You only have six people."
The gang turned to see someone walking on the plank that connected the ships together. It was a large, roundish man with a cylinder shaped chin covered in tin plates. He seemed to wearing some kind of fur coat. It looked like a hippo but there was a chance that the man's size had stretched the coat out. He was chewing on a piece of meat that had been skewered by a dagger. Just then the man took a bite out of the meat and dagger!
"Anyway," the man said while chewing. "Let me ask you a question."
Kevin stared. "Did that guy just…"
Ben blinked a bunch of times. "How did he…"
Usopp made a face. "My mouth hurts just watching him."
"We want to go to the Drum Kingdom," the large man said, throwing the hilt into his mouth. "Do you have a Log Pose or an Eternal Pose?"
Kevin was about to retort but Sanji answered first. "Nope," he said. "And we've never of that country before."
"Hey!" Luffy called to the man. "Since you're done with your business, why don't you just leave?"
The large man sighed. "Why do you have to be so cruel? If you don't have it, why don't I just take all your treasure then?"
"Say what?" Ben reacted.
"But before we do that," the massive man said. "I'm kinda hungry." He looked over at the railing. Suddenly his mouth expanded as he chomped down on it and took a large chunk out. The six boys were speechless as the man started munching on the railing in his mouth.
"Is he human?" Usopp cried.
"Hey!" Luffy yelled. "Don't eat our ship!"
"Okay," Ben said as he activated the Ultimatrix. "It's Hero Time!" he slammed the dial down. When the flash of green light went away, the gunmen all gasped at what stood before them. It was a twelve foot tall alien with a very well developed body and two pairs of muscular, four fingered arms. He sported a ponytail and had a dark line that ran from the bridge of his nose down to his neck. He was shirtless, wearing two gold sashes that crossed over his torso with the Ultimatrix symbol on his torso's center. The red giant wore briefs along with gold braces on his wrists and ankles. He gazed at the gunmen with four pairs of pure yellow eyes.
"Four Arms!" the being yelled in a gruff voice.
"What the…" the large man cried.
"So cool!" Luffy said as he stared at Four Arms in wonder.
Zoro grinned. "Now that's a form."
"Monster!" the bad guys cried. They were about to shoot and stab at Four Arms when the red giant brought all four of his hands back before slamming them together. The result was a powerful shock wave that blasted the gunmen around him backwards.
The other foes' attention was drawn on Four Arms. This allowed Kevin to grab some of their swords. Before they could fire, Kevin was covered in the metal from their swords. Grinning, he formed his mace and hammer fists and started pounding away at any one unlucky to get in his way. Some idiots tried firing at Luffy but they all bounced off his rubber body and back at them.
"They want to fight!" Someone shouted. "Shoot them!"
Zoro grinned as he drew his swords. "Way to start things off, Ben."
"We can start the fight, right?" Sanji asked.
Usopp on the other hand was crawling down the mast as bullets flew at him. "Hey!" he cried at them. "I think we can negotiate."
"Right," Kevin said. "And this is how I negotiate!" He started plowing his way through the attackers.
The sounds of gunfire and fighting came from the Merry Go. Back on the Bliking, the rest of the large man's crew merely listened to the noise, believing their crew mates to be the winners.
"They've started it," said the large archer to his ally, a dark skinned man wearing a large yellow cloak with afros on each end. The man had a large afro on his head and three small afros on his beard. The afro man smirked.
"What a bunch of idiots," he said. "I don't understand why they want to die that much."
Back at the girls' room, Nami and Vivi's eyes widened when they heard gunfire.
"That's a gun's noise," Vivi said. She saw Nami running for the door and followed after her. "Carue! Watch Gwen!"
Carue saluted her.
Back outside, Sanji kicked one of the attackers in the back of the head, making the guy slam into the deck.
Some guys tried shooting Kevin, but their bullets bounced off his metal body. The young Osmosian responded by powerhouse blows to their faces.
The biggest threats at the moment were Four Arms and Luffy, who were moving like juggernauts. No one had the chance to retaliate against the colossal alien before he wound up smashing those brick house fists into them. Or when the rubber boy would shoot his fists all over the place like paddle-balls. Anyone unlucky enough to be in the way of his fists soon crumpled to the ground.
Zoro sighed as he slashed through some of the attackers. "They're all show." He muttered.
"We don't have time for this," Kevin said as he slammed his sledgehammer fist into one guy's gut. "We need to get Gwen to a doctor now!"
"Lord Wapol!" one of the men cried. "These people are…" But that's as far as he got when Four Arms brought one of his fists down on the guy's head.
The large guy, most likely Wapol, was chewing on more of the ship's railing. "This ship sure is tasty," he mumbled out as his mouth was full.
"Hey!" Luffy yelled as he punched some of Wapol's men out of his way. "Are you still eating my ship?" he charged at Wapol. "Stop right there!"
"Don't worry, Luffy!" Four Arms called. "I've got him!" he ran at Wapol.
"Those idiots dare to challenge Wapol?" one of Wapol's men said.
"Lord Wapol!" another cried. "Crush him with the power of the Munch Munch Fruit!"
Four Arms paused in his attack to look at them. "Munch Munch Fruit? What kind of power is…?" But he never got to finish his sentence because Wapol's mouth grew gigantic. Before Four Arms could make any type of attack, Wapol chomped down on him. His entire body was almost all the way in Wapol's mouth with only his legs sticking out. And they were kicking like crazy.
"Ben!" Usopp, Sanji, Zoro, and Kevin all cried.
"Hey! Let me out of here!" Four Arms tried struggling in Wapol's mouth open but the massive man seemed to have a pretty strong jaw. Wapol struggled to keep his jaw shut while Four Arms was struggling to get out. So far, neither side had any leverage over the other.
Man. Four Arms thought as he tried to pry himself out. How strong is this guy's mouth?
"What is he made of?" Wapol asked as he tried to get a good bite out of his "snack". "He's really hard to chew."
"Darn you!" Luffy yelled. "Let Ben go!" He shot his arms back so far that they stretched right off the ship.
At that moment, Nami and Vivi came out. Sanji, who was standing near the door, noticed them. "Nami-san, Vivi-chan, is there something wrong with Gwen-chan?"
"We heard noises out here and thought…" Nami started to say.
"Gum Gum…Bazooka!" Luffy yelled, slamming his fists into Wapol's stomach. The blow made Wapol spit out Four Arms and flew far off into the distance.
"Lord Wapol!" all of Wapol's men cried out for their captain.
Vivi stared at Luffy in amazement.
Four Arms on the other hand was not in a good mood. As he got back to his feet, he was disgusted to see that he was covered in drool. "Thanks, Luffy." He said as he turned back to normal.
Kevin chuckled. "Guess you didn't taste very good, Tennyson."
Ben glared at him. "How about we stop talking about it?"
"Lord Wapol!" The jester looking man cried. "This is bad! Lord Wapol has been thrown away!"
"Lord Wapol doesn't know how to swim either!" the afro guy yelled.
Kevin sneered. "Well, sucks to be him."
"We need to help him before he drowns!" the afro guy shouted to the rest of the crew.
"Hurry up!" the jester urged them. "Otherwise Lord Wapol will die!" He looked up at the Straw-hat Pirates and pointed at them. "Next time, we shall take our revenge!"
"Yeah!" the afro man taunted. "So just remember us!"
The men that were still onboard the Merry Go quickly grabbed their wounded and dashed off the ship as fast as they could. Once the crewmen cleared off the ship, the Bliking turned tail and ran away.
"What was that all about?" Nami asked.
"Some pirates trying to go to a place called Drum Kingdom," Ben said. "They asked if we had a Log Pose or an Eternal Pose there."
"And then the big guy started eating the ship!" Luffy cried.
"Eat the…" Nami saw the bitten off part of the ship. "Wow."
Vivi bit her lip as she looked at her feet. But no one was paying attention to her.
"But if it wasn't for Luffy," Kevin said. "Ben would have been that guy's main course."
Ben sighed. "You're never gonna let me live this down are you?"
"Heck, no," Kevin said. "It was way to funny."
"How is it funny?" Ben asked.
"Because you always wind up getting eaten," Kevin replied.
"You do?" Luffy and Usopp asked Ben.
Yeah," Ben said grumpily. "Don't remind me."
It was night time now and things still hadn't improved for Gwen. Nami was impressed that the girl managed to sleep through the whole thing. And Kevin's sourness had gone up too. According to him, that Wapol guy had caused them to waste too much time when they needed to find a doctor for Gwen. That led Nami to forbid the others from seeing Gwen, as she feared that Kevin would take his frustration out on them. Especially Sanji.
The next problem that Nami needed to worry about was clothing. They were in a cold area and Ben admitted that they hadn't packed any winter clothing, which was not good. While Ben could turn into things like NRG or Swampfire, they still needed to find ways to keep warm if off the ship.
But for now, Nami was walking back to the girls' room with bowl of hot soup for Gwen to eat. She opened the door and walked inside. Kevin was right where she left him, sitting next to Gwen's bed. He turned his head to see who had walked in.
"I brought the soup," Nami said, holding up the bowl to prove it.
Kevin nodded and mumbled "Thank you" before looking back at Gwen.
Nami looked at Kevin sadly as she put the soup down on her desk. "You should get something to eat, Kevin."
"I'm not hungry," Kevin replied as he continued looking at Gwen; as if he thought looking at her would make her feel better.
"Kevin, I know you're worried about Gwen but starving yourself is not going to make her better," Nami said. "What would Gwen want you to do?"
Kevin clenched his fists tightly. He knew exactly what Gwen would want him to do. She'd want him to take care of himself. That would be just like Gwen. Always caring about him. In fact…he was pretty sure that she was the one who cared about him the most. Even after everyone else would write him off and give up, Gwen never did. When he went on that rampage after absorbing the alien forms from the Ultimatrix, everyone, including Ben, had decided to go ahead and kill him. Not Gwen. Gwen was the only one who still believed in him. She had actually fought her own cousin just to make sure that Ben didn't do him in. And even after all that Kevin himself had said and done to Gwen, she still did everything she could to turn him back to normal. She didn't care what happened to her. All she cared about was bringing him back.
What could I have possibly done in my life to deserve someone like her? Kevin thought as he felt his eyes water. Nothing I can remember.
But he knew that worrying Gwen because of his reluctance to eat was not something he was going to do. So instead, he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before walking towards the door. As he opened it, Kevin turned one last sad look at Gwen before walking out and gently closing the door behind him.
Nami smiled as she looked down at Gwen, who had not stirred even from the kiss. "You're really lucky, Gwen. To have a guy like him." She would wait until the soup cooled just a bit before walking the redhead up.
The next day had come and things might have gotten worse. It was getting colder now and three of the crew didn't have the proper protection against such a climate. And Gwen's temperature had risen. Well, sort of. Ben had turned into NRG to help with repair the damage Wapol had caused yesterday. He used his powers to emit heat from his body. But he kept it to a minimum so the ship didn't combust because he got carried away. Kevin on the other hand was right by Gwen's side to make sure that her fever wouldn't get even worse from the cold.
"I don't understand," Usopp said as he gathered some wood to fix the partially chomped railing.
"What's wrong, Usopp?" NRG asked.
"About those pirates that we met yesterday," Usopp replied. "I've never heard of those pirates before. But their ship was very good."
"Whatever they are," Sanji called from the crow's nest. "Just don't pay them any attention. They're just a bunch of idiots. Shouldn't be better than that."
"I have to agree with him," NRG said. "Mr. 3 was more of a challenge than Wapol was."
"By the way," Sanji said. "Do you think it's too quiet and cold around here?"
"Huh?" NRG asked. "Quiet?"
"Yeah," Usopp said as he started hammering in some planks to fix the railing. "But I think something's going to happen later."
NRG frowned as he helped hold the planks in place. Not that anyone could see it since his armor covered his body. "Do not jinx us, Usopp."
"It must mean that there's an island around here," Vivi said. "Sanji-san, please be careful on the ship's route."
"Vivi-chan?" Sanji asked.
"There must be a winter island around here," Vivi explained.
"Winter island?" NRG asked. "What's that?" Clang! Usopp's hammer had hit against NRG's armored hand.
"Sorry about that, Ben," Usopp said sheepishly.
But NRG ignored him to listen to Vivi.
"They say there are four different types of islands in the Grand Line," Vivi said. "Which are winter island, spring island, summer island, and fall island. And each of these islands will have four different types of seasons."
"Uh…what?" NRG asked as he scratched the top of his armor the way one would scratch the top of their head.
"To make it easier to understand," Vivi said. "While we are traveling along the Grand Line, we will be facing sixteen different types of weather. From the summer of Summer Island to the Winter of Winter Island. Besides that, we will face many unexpected obstacles along the route."
"I see," Usopp said. "Because there are many different types of islands between the route, the weather will be unconscious and unpredictable."
"Right," Vivi said. "Based on the calm weather, it means that there is an island around here."
Sanji looked through the binoculars. "You're right," he said. "I see an island." Then he yelled out so the whole crew could hear. "There's an island ahead of us!"
"An island?" Luffy asked excitedly from the kitchen. Then he dashed outside so that he could see it.
Kevin felt his heart race when he heard Sanji say "island". There might be a doctor on that island. And then they could cure Gwen. He looked at her. "Hold on, Gwen. We'll find help soon."
Nami smiled. There was a big chance of that happening.
Luffy on the other hand was sitting on the figure head and looking at the island with glee. "It's so white!" he said. "It must be snow! So it's a snow island!"
"Hey, Luffy!" Sanji said. "I must tell you that we won't have time to play around or look around. Our main purpose is to find a doctor to cure Gwen-chan. After that, we go straight to Arabasta."
But Luffy was too busy staring off in the distance at the island so he didn't hear a thing Sanji said.
"He is easily amused," NRG said as he walked up to Sanji and turned back to normal.
"You have no idea," Sanji said.
"Wait a minute," Usopp said. "Do you think that we'll be safe Is there going to be a monster on the island? How can you be sure that we'll find humans? I don't want to go."
Ben groaned. "Hey, you were the one who said that you wanted to be a great warrior of the sea, right? How do you expect to be one if you chicken out all the time just because things look bad?"
Usopp froze. Ben had a point. His dream was to be a great warrior of the sea. But if he let his fear always get the better of him…what right did he have to call himself one?
"And we don't have much choice," Ben told him. "If there are humans on that island and they can heal Gwen, we have to see."
Usopp sighed. "You're right, Ben. Sorry."
Ben softened. "No problem. Besides, if there is a monster on the island, I can take care of it."
Soon the ship came to the island and sailed through the river in the middle. Everywhere you looked, the entire place was covered in snow. In the distance stood large, cylinder shaped mountains covered in snow. It was truly a winter wonderland.
"Yeesh," Ben said as he rubbed his arms furiously. "It's freezing."
Nami frowned at Ben. "Maybe you should have stayed as NRG. At least you wouldn't be cold when you're a walking furnace."
"Tell that to Luffy," Usopp said. Luffy was sitting on the figurehead, looking in delight at all the snow that lay before him. Tears were dripping down his face.
"So much snow," Luffy muttered. "I'm so happy."
Vivi was looking at Ben in concern. "Ben, you and Luffy should get inside. It's -10 degrees Celsius out here. That's around the time a bear hibernates."
"Good grief," Ben muttered. "I'm surprised I'm not a popsicle already."
"Eh?" Luffy asked as he looked at the others. Suddenly he started rubbing his hands. "Brrr. It's so cold!"
"You just now realized that?" Usopp, Sanji, Nami and Ben all yelled.
"We can't go any further," Vivi said when the ship came near a dead end made by the land. "I think we'd better stop here."
Zoro, who was outside with them and wearing a thick coat, folded his arms. "Who's going to look for a doctor?" he asked. "Well, just look for people first."
"I will," Luffy said after donning a coat.
"I will go too." Sanji said, pumping his fist.
"Same here," Ben said.
Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Sure you'll be okay? You look a little under-dressed."
Ben grinned. "Don't worry." He lifted his left arm to show the Ultimatrix. "I've got plenty of guys who can handle the cold."
Nami sighed. "Just don't get carried away, Ben. We've already got one person on this ship sick and we don't need another one."
Ben couldn't help but agree to that. After all, he knew what happened whenever he got sick. It wound up affecting his aliens too. So far, only Heatblast actually benefitted whenever he got a cold.
"Very good," Usopp said. "Just hurry up and go."
"Stop right there, pirates!"
Everyone turned to see that they were completely surrounded. People stood on both sides of the riverbeds. And most, if not all, had weapons.
"Hey!" Luffy said. "There are humans!"
"But they don't look friendly," Usopp said.
Ben nodded as he readied the Ultimatrix.
A large, muscular man wearing a green winter coat, looked down at the Straw-hat crew. "Get off this island," he said. "You're not welcome here."
Ben frowned. These guys must really hate visitors.
"We're looking for a doctor," Luffy told them.
"We have a sick person on board!" Vivi cried.
"That trick won't work on us you evil pirates!" the people yelled.
Ben's eyes narrowed. "It's the truth!" he said.
"This is our village and we won't let you in!"
"Just get out! Otherwise we'll shoot you!"
Sanji let out a puff of smoke. "They just met us, but they act like they've hated us for 100 years."
"Shut up!" one person yelled as he fired at Sanji. But Sanji managed to dodge out of the way in time.
"What are you doing?" Usopp yelled at the gunman. Sanji glared up at the guy.
"Are you trying to mess with us?" he asked angrily. The gunman gulped and his gun wobbled in his hand. Sanji was about to run at him but Vivi got in the way.
"Stop, Sanji," she said. Just then another gunshot was heard and Vivi fell. The crew's eyes widened in horror.
"Vivi!" Luffy cried.
Ben's eyes hardened. "Okay, it's Hero Time!" He activated the Ultimatrix. "Let's see how you guys like Humongousaur!" he slammed the dial down.
When the green light went away, it was not Humongousaur. Instead there stood an alien with a mainly black body and yellow colored torso, hands, feet, and spiky shoulder blades. His hands and feet looked like crab claws and the Ultimatrix disk rested in the center of his chest. But that wasn't the most unusual feature about this alien. The most unusual feature was his head. Unlike the rest of his body, it was pure metallic with green eyes. And it hovered between his shoulder blades.
"Lodestar!" the new alien cried in a mechanical voice despite its mouth not moving. "Okay, not what I wanted…but maybe I can use this."
"Eeeeeeh?" Luffy said excitedly, completely distracted from his anger. "His head is floating!"
"So that's Lodestar," Nami said.
"Monster!" the gunmen cried. "Get ready!"
Lodestar looked at them. "I don't think so." What appeared to be green wave started coming out of his body. At first the people were all confused by what was going on. Then their weapons started flying out of their hands. Even Zoro's swords.
"Hey!" Zoro said in annoyance. "Watch what you're doing, Ben."
"Sorry, Zoro," Lodestar said. "I guess I have too much of a magnetic personality."
Luffy burst out laughing. "Good one, Ben!" He cheered.
"What the…" the people all cried. Everyone's guns were being pulled out of their hands and towards the Merry Go. Once Lodestar made sure that he had all the weapons, he ceased the waves, causing the guns to fall in a colossal heap on the ship.
"What's going on?" Kevin called as he came out of the girls' room. He saw the giant pile of guns and other weapons like swords or pitchforks, then looked around to see the crowd of stunned people on either river bed. "Let me guess…welcoming committee?"
Lodestar nodded before looking at the island's inhabitants. "If we wanted to destroy your village, do you think we would pretend that someone was sick?" he asked.
The villagers were frozen, not sure what to do. All their weapons had been taken away by that creature.
"Ben! Wait!"
Lodestar turned to see Vivi slowly sitting up.
"Vivi," Lodestar said as he ran to her side. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Vivi reassured him. "The bullet just missed me."
"That's right!" Luffy yelled as he faced the villagers. "You guys shot Vivi!"
"Luffy, don't!" Vivi cried before Luffy could make a move against the villagers. She then looked at them. "We won't go into your village. Our friend is in a serious condition."
"That's right!" Kevin said. "She's sick and she really needs to see a doctor now!"
"We don't mean you any harm," Lodestar reassured them. Then he turned back to normal. "We just want my cousin to be okay."
Luffy looked at the scene before him. And he realized that if he let his anger get the better of him, it wouldn't help Gwen at all. He looked at the villagers. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault." He got down on his knees and bowed. "Please get a doctor!"
A moment of tense silence passed afterwards. Naturally the villagers were wary. They had lost their weapons and one boy could turn into some kind of metal headed monster.
But the large man in the green coat could see that this could not be an act. If that boy could take all their weapons away, he could probably have used them to slaughter everyone by now. Even though the pirates had the advantage, they were still willing to get down on their knees and beg.
"I will show you to our village," he said. "Just follow us."
Relieved looks and smiles came upon the faces of everyone on the Merry Go.
Vivi smiled. "See, they understood us."
Luffy looked at her. "Yes. You've done a good job.
"But let me tell you something," the muscular man said. "We have only one doctor and she is a witch!"
"Eh?" the majority of the crew said.
"That's okay," Luffy replied. "Our friend's a witch too."
Kevin scowled at Luffy. "Don't call Gwen a witch."
Well, after the crew returned their weapons to the villagers, they were on their way. But Nami knew that things needed to be done. She had Zoro and Sanji stay behind to guard the ship. With Gwen in her condition, she knew that Sanji would try to be all chivalrous to her. That in turn would annoy Kevin. Eventually one was going to do something that would tick off the other and send them into a fight. And a fight among the crew was not something they needed right now. So Sanji was back on the ship with Zoro while Kevin was carrying Gwen on his back. The poor girl was wrapped up in one of Nami's extra coats that she had bought. Kevin had been annoyed when she said she had forgotten that she had them. But he was relieved that Gwen now had something to wear in the cold. If only there were extra male coats for Kevin and Ben to wear.
Ben noticed that the villagers were looking at him uneasily. While it was understandable, considering what he had done as Lodestar, it still irked him because it reminded him of how Will Harangue would always call him either a threat or menace. And right now the villagers were looking at him like a threat, the greater of the two evils.
"By the way," he said, trying not to think about it. "What's the name of this place anyway?"
The large man looked at Ben. "This country has no name."
Vivi looked at him curiously. "Doesn't have name? Is that true?"
"Aaaah!" Usopp cried. "A bear! Everyone pretend to be dead!"
Sure enough, there was a bear walking in the opposite direction the crew and villagers were going. It was pure white…and walking upright with a cane? Ben and Kevin rubbed their eyes to make sure that the cold hadn't messed with their vision.
"That's just a hiking bear," The large man replied. "He's not dangerous but don't forget to bow to him to show your manners." He bowed to the pair and immediately everyone else followed, even Carue. Ben did as well and quickly nudge Kevin so he would do it too. Snorting, Kevin bowed but he did it slowly so that Gwen wouldn't fall over. The Hiking bear bowed back to them as both parties continued on their ways.
Back at the Merry Go, Sanji and Zoro were not in the best of moods. Mainly because they were forced to guard the ship together.
"Nami-san," Sanji sobbed. "Why did you leave me with this crap-swordsman?"
"I can hear you, Curly-brow!" Zoro snapped at him. Then he started remove all his clothing until he was just wearing his pants.
"Oi!" Sanji snapped. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm practicing," Zoro replied.
Sanji raised his curly eyebrow at him while smoking his cigarette. "Practicing what?"
Zoro walked over to the edge of the ship. "If I have a strong will and enough practice, I can swim in the winter."
That caused Sanji to take a gasp of air, which unfortunately also made him inhale his cigarette's smoke. After he sputtered for a bit, he glared at Zoro. "You're gonna do what?"
As for the others, they were led to what appeared to be a quaint little village. Aside from the occasional pause to look at the newcomers, they went about their ordinary lives. Ben and Kevin could make out goats and what appeared to be furry hippos.
"This is our village," the large man said.
"Wow!" Luffy said as he took in the sights. "There's lots of weird animals here."
"This really is a winter land!" Usopp said.
"Quack!" Carue agreed.
Kevin snorted. "I've seen weirder."
"And I've been in colder places," Ben said, remembering their trip to that one planet that was half a frozen wasteland while looking for one of the pieces to the Map of Infinity.
The large man on the other hand turned to the rest of the villagers. "Thank you, everyone. Besides the people who are on guard duty, the rest of you can go back to work now."
"Are you sure that you will be okay, Mr. Dalton?" one of the villagers asked. "These people are pirates."
"I believe we can trust them," Dalton replied.
Vivi looked at Dalton curiously. "You don't have any armies?"
"The villagers are the armies," Dalton explained. "Let's go have a rest at my house."
"Look, Luffy!" Usopp cried. "A hiking bear!"
"Again?" Luffy asked as he, Carue, and Usopp immediately bowed.
Ben and Kevin sweatdropped at who they were bowing to. It wasn't a hiking bear. It just happened to be a particularly large woman. Nami shook her head at Luffy, Carue, and Usopp.
"I heard that the pirates are coming to our village," the woman said. "Is it going to be okay, Mr. Dalton?"
Dalton, who was also sweatdropping from Luffy, Carue, and Usopp's antics, said to her. "Don't worry. Everything is fine."
"Elections will be held in two days, Dalton," a nearby man said. "I heard that everyone is going to vote for you."
Dalton looked at the ground. "I'm not worthy. I'm just a sinner."
The Straw-hat crew looked at each other curiously. What did he mean by that? Sure the guy was a little bit gruff when they first met him, but the villagers seemed to like him. Dalton led them to his house.
"You can use the bed over here," Dalton said, indicating the bed. Kevin immediately walked over to it. Nami and Vivi followed him so that they could get Gwen off his back and safely onto the bed.
"Let me introduce myself," Dalton said. "My name is Dalton, I'm a guardian of this island. Please forgive us for treating you so bad at the port." He looked over at Vivi. "Let me ask you something."
"Eh?" Vivi asked when she noticed Dalton's attention was directed at her.
"I've felt that we've met before," Dalton said. "Who are you?"
Vivi became nervous. "I've think you've mistaken me for someone else. By the way, can you tell me more about that witch?"
Dalton had noticed Gwen and went to check her temperature. His eyes widened when he looked at his thermometer. "107 degrees," he said.
Kevin paled. "Her temperature's gone up."
"If her temperature increases any more, she will die," Dalton said, looking at Gwen in concern.
"We know all that," Nami said. "But we don't know what caused it or how to cure her."
"Well we think it was a bug bite but that's not important," Kevin said. "We need to find a doctor to cure her. So where is this witch you talked about?"
"Did you see that mountain outside the window?" Dalton asked, not removing his eyes off Gwen's sleeping form.
"Which one?" Kevin asked as he turned around to see outside the window. What he saw instead was a snowman's head. "What the…" He pressed his face against the window to see why a snowman was standing in his view. Turned out that it was Luffy's handiwork. Next to it was some kind of giant snow lizard that Usopp made.
"Mr. Snowman!" Luffy cried happily, high-fiving Usopp.
"This is Snow Monster Shirola!" Usopp cheered.
Angrily, Kevin barged outside and kicked both of the snow creations to heaps of snow.
"Oi!" Luffy yelled. "You killed Mr. Snowman!"
"Shirola!" Usopp wept. "Kevin, how could you?"
Before Kevin could do anything, Nami appeared out of nowhere and bashed both boys on the top of their heads. Massive lumps now formed.
"Get in here," Nami hissed at the two as she dragged them inside. Stunned for a brief moment by that completely unexpected event, Kevin shook his head and followed her back inside.
"Sorry about that," Nami said as she plopped Luffy and Usopp onto the floor "Please continue."
Blinking a little at the two boys, Dalton continued his tale. "Do you see that large mountain in the middle of the others? If you look, you'll see a castle at the top."
Kevin, Nami, Ben, and Vivi all looked out the window towards the middle mountain. Sure enough, they could just make out the outline of a castle.
"I see it," Ben said. "Is that where the witch lives?"
"That's right," Dalton said. "Doctor Kureha, the only doctor on this island. The one people call a witch."
Kevin groaned in annoyance. "Figures. The one doctor in this place and she lives all the way up there."
"Do you have some way to contact her or something?" Nami asked Dalton.
"I want to do that," Dalton replied. "But there's no way we can contact her."
"Then how do you know she's a doctor?" Ben asked.
"She is a very good doctor," Dalton reassured them. "But she's a very strange 140 year old woman."
"A 140 years old?" Everyone cried. Carue quacked in surprise.
"She also likes pickled plums," Dalton added.
Ben made a face. "Okay, how does knowing she likes pickled plums help us?"
"And how can a 140 year old person still be a doctor?" Kevin asked.
"Despite her age," Dalton said. "She's quite agile and very good at her work. She'll show up at the village without warning and will look for anyone who needs a doctor and treat them. Afterwards she'll take anything that she likes as payment."
"She's really bad," Usopp said, having regained consciousness.
"Sounds like a pirate," Luffy agreed.
"But how can she get down here?" Vivi asked.
"That's what I'd like to know," Ben agreed.
"The rumors say that she rides a sleigh down here," Dalton said. "However, some people say that she flies to the village. That's why people call her a witch. Besides, people also say that she lives with a weird creature that no one has seen before."
"Ah!" Usopp cried. "That must be a monster because she's living on top of the snow mountain! A witch and a monster? Please don't come to me!"
"Quack!" Carue agreed.
"As I said," Dalton told them. "She's the only doctor but no one wants to get involved. With her, the only thing we can do is to wait until she comes down here."
"Forget it," Kevin said. "I ain't waiting for her."
"What do you intend to do?" Dalton asked. "Climb up the mountain? That's suicide."
Just then, Luffy went over to Gwen and started to lightly slap her face. "Hey! Gwen! Gwen!"
In an instant, Kevin slammed Luffy against the wall. "Do that again and see what happens." He threatened.
"I was just gonna ask if she wanted to take a hike," Luffy replied.
"What?"
"Uh,"
Kevin and Luffy looked to see that Gwen had opened her eyes.
"She's waking up," Luffy said. "Gwen, if we don't go to the mountain, we can't see the doctor. Let's go hiking."
"Are you crazy?" Nami demanded.
"It's okay," Luffy answered. "I can carry her."
"Yeah, and maybe her condition will get worse." Nami said.
"What? I'll take her to the doctor," Luffy said. "She should be better soon."
"Luffy, look at that mountain!" Vivi said, pointing at it. "You can't climb it."
"I can too," Luffy said.
"You can, but Gwen can't," Usopp argued.
"If we fall down, the snow will save us," Luffy said.
"If you fall down, you are going to die for sure," Nami said.
"Besides, Gwen's temperature is 6 degrees higher than a normal person's!" Vivi pointed out.
"Tennyson!" Kevin said as he rounded on Ben. "Say something. Gwen's your cousin!"
"I know that," Ben said. "And as crazy as it sounds, Luffy's got a point."
"What?" The others except Luffy cried.
"Look, you said yourself that we can't wait," Ben told Kevin. "Our best chance for Gwen to get better is if take her to the castle."
"And risk her dying on the way there," Nami said. "Climbing up there is too dangerous."
"That's why I'll come along," Ben said. "My guys can handle climbing up a mountain. Believe me when I say that I've been through worse."
Kevin's eyes narrowed. "If you're going, then I'm going too."
Ben shook his head. "Forget it, Kevin. I can handle going up that mountain but you might freeze to death."
"So you expect me here to sit here and do nothing?" Kevin demanded.
"What Ben is saying is to have faith in him," Nami said. "I think Ben's got the best chance out of all of us to make it up the mountain."
"Him?" Dalton asked. "Why him?"
Nami looked at Dalton. "That monster you saw earlier is just one of many that Ben can turn into."
Dalton's eyes widened. "He can turn into more?"
"A lot more," Vivi admitted.
Kevin clenched his fits tightly. "Fine, Tennyson. I'll leave this to you."
Ben nodded.
"But I warn you right now," Kevin added. "If anything happens to Gwen I'll…"
"Don't worry," Ben said. "If anything happens to Gwen, I'll let you."
Ben nodded as he activated the Ultimatrix. "I think Big Chill's the best one to use." He slammed the dial down.
In the flash of green light, a different alien than Big Chill stood. Instead Ben had transformed into a flaming humanoid being made of flaming red rocks with magma in the cracks on his body. His hands had grown in size and looked like they could pack a punch. His head was literally on fire.
"Heatblast!" the new alien cried. Suddenly the fiery sockets widened. "Oh man!" He ran towards the door, opened it, and dashed outside in under a minute.
Dalton stared opened mouthed at what he had just seen. Was it his imagination or did that boy turn into a being made of fire. He looked out the open door. Sure enough, the boy was now completely made of fire and molten rock. The spot of snow he was standing in was starting to melt away.
"Wow!" Luffy cried.
"Fire monster!" Usopp cried.
Nami sighed. "Relax, Usopp, it's only Ben."
Kevin groaned. "Great. Just great. That watch just had to mess up at a time like this."
"What's wrong, Kevin?" Vivi asked.
"Heatblast can't touch anything without it eventually bursting into flames," Kevin explained. "He can't carry Gwen like that."
"I'll carry her then," Luffy said. "Ben can come with me."
"We don't have much choice right now," Heatblast said from outside. His flames had melted part of the snow and now they fell into it. Of course his heat was making more of the snow melt.
"He's right," Nami said reluctantly. "Luffy and Ben really do stand the best chance out of us."
"What about me?" Kevin asked.
"If you went, you'd freeze to death," Dalton said. "I don't know a lot about your friend, Ben, was it? But I do see that fire creature he became will help him survive in the mountains."
Kevin sighed as he looked at his feet. As much as he didn't want to admit it. This was the best option. "Fine."
"Stand still," Vivi said as she used a rope to tie Gwen around Luffy. He was carrying her on his back and Vivi was making sure that Gwen was secured to him. "There."
"Alright," Heatblast said to Luffy. "Ready to go?" Luffy nodded.
"We'll wait for you here," Nami told them. "Even if we did go with you, you'd have us to worry about too."
"Understood," Heatblast said.
"If you must go up the mountain," Dalton said. "I recommend you go the opposite way. This route is full of Laphan. Meat eating rabbits who are very powerful. If you run into a group of them, you can't survive."
"Rabbit?" Luffy asked. He looked at Heatblast. "But we're in a hurry. Just don't worry about it."
Heatblast nodded. "Don't worry. If any of these rabbits do come along, I'll just roast them."
Luffy grinned as he started running towards the mountain. "Then let's go Ben, before Gwen dies."
Heatblast growled. "A little insensitive, Luffy?" He asked as he ran alongside him.
Dalton watched as the two, and their passenger, headed towards the mountain. "Will be they be okay?" he asked.
"Don't worry," Usopp assured him. "They'll be fine."
"But I'm not sure if Gwen can make it," Vivi admitted. "I wish all of them luck."
Kevin glared at her but Nami but a hand on his shoulder.
"All we can do now is hope Ben and Luffy can make it," she told him. Kevin did not reply. Nor did she expect him to.
Dalton looked at the other four. "Why don't you all come inside? It's cold out here."
"It's okay," Vivi replied. "I want to stay out here."
"Me too," Usopp said.
"Same here," Kevin said.
Nami shook her head. "Oh no, you don't. You don't have a coat like we do and I'm not about to tell Gwen her boyfriend froze to death." She started pushing him towards Dalton's house. "In you go!"
"Hey, quit pushing me!" Kevin snapped as Nami continued shoving him into the house.
Dalton chuckled. "You have quite an unusual group with you." He said to Vivi and Usopp, who nodded. "Actually, there used to be many doctors in this town."
"Eh?" Vivi asked.
"Then why are they all gone?" Nami asked from the doorway.
Dalton sat cross legged on the ground. "About 2-3 months ago, this country was destroyed by a group of pirates."
Vivi, Usopp, and Nami all gasped. Even Kevin's attention was caught.
"So that's why you were so mean to us," Vivi said.
"Yes. Everyone still remembers how cruel these pirates were," Dalton replied. "There were only five pirates in that group. Their captain was known as "Blackbeard". Our country was destroyed within a short period of time.
"Are you kidding?" Nami asked. "Your country was destroyed by only five pirates?"
"Blackbeard?" Kevin asked himself. "Wasn't there a pirate in our world who was called that?"
"However," Dalton continued. "Some people say it turned out to be good."
"Good?" Vivi asked. "What is so good about having your country destroyed?"
"That's right!" Usopp agreed.
"It's all because the government was very cruel to the people," Dalton explained. "This country used to be known as the "Drum Kingdom". And the emperor's name was King Wapol. He was an awful king."
Nami, Kevin, Usopp, and Vivi all gasped. Wapol? That was the guy who had attacked their ship!
"Oh boy," Kevin muttered.
End of Chapter
I'm personally looking forward to when the gang reach the Fishman Island arc in this story. Oh, I can see so much potential using Rip Jaws, Jet Ray, Water Hazard, Brainstorm, or AmpFibian against the New Fishman Pirates. One possible plot line for that is that the Mermaid Princess falls in love with Ben, causing him to go up against New Fishman Pirate Vander Decken, who wants the princess's hand in marriage.
I've also noticed that I have portrayed Ben a little too strong in some of the previous chapters that a couple of reviewers have pointed out to me thus taking away the limelight from the Straw Hats and the other heroes of the One Piece story. I'll make sure not to go overboard with Ben's powers. My original intention was to make it more around Ben and Luffy being a tag team. Rest assured this will be taken care of when the story is revamped after all current chapters have been posted. Till next time people, enjoy your graduations in the next month before summer begins!