Unlike her reaction, Luffy could only complain that Nami wasn't there.
"Come on!"
With a reminder, the snow beneath Luffy's feet turned to rubber. He slightly bent his knees and then jumped, launching himself into the air.
Wow!
Like lightning, he shot upward!
"Ah~"
Overcome with excitement, Kaya let out a cry of surprise.
As the jumping force gradually weakened, clouds of white flames formed beneath Luffy's feet. With another burst of power, he flew to the top of the mountain in a single breath.
"Boof... boof..."
Kaya, scared, closed her eyes and breathed lightly through her mouth. Only when she felt stable did she dare to open her eyes slowly.
"We're here."
"What a beautiful castle!"
Kaya exclaimed in awe.
Before their eyes was a large castle covered in snow, as beautiful as they had imagined.
Luffy walked to the castle gate and knocked a few times.
After waiting for a long time, a door opened from the inside.
Then an antler and half a deer's head appeared through the crack in the door.
"A reindeer?" Kaya blinked.
It was a reindeer with a blue nose and a round red hat on its head.
It looked like the reindeer was scared, with cold sweat appearing on his face.
The next moment, he sniffed with his nose and, with a bang, closed the door.
"He was scared," Luffy laughed.
"Yeah, really?" Kaya quickly apologized, "Sorry, please open the door."
"Maybe it's a tanuki, I heard tanukis are socially anxious."
As soon as the words came out, the door opened again.
"I'm a reindeer! I don't look anything like a tanuki! Can't you see I'm a reindeer?!"
He opened his mouth to express his dissatisfaction, then let out a sigh and hid behind the door.
"He… he spoke!" Kaya exclaimed, covering her mouth.
Luffy pushed the door, and the reindeer couldn't stop him.
Panicking, he took a step back and shouted, "Who... who are you? What are you doing here?"
"I'm Luffy, she's Kaya. We're here to find a doctor named Dr. Kureha. This is a symbol given to her by an acquaintance."
As he spoke, Luffy took out the paper Crocus gave him at Twin Cape and showed it to the reindeer.
The reindeer looked at it for a moment and was immediately stunned.
Then, he grabbed the paper in his mouth, quickly turned around and ran away.
"Wait here, I'll get Dr. Kureha!"
Leaving the two behind.
Kaya said in surprise, "There really are animals that can talk in this world... how cute~ I wonder what kind of person the witch here is."
Shortly afterward, the two encountered the so-called witch.
An elderly lady full of energy, wearing a purple jacket, purple leather pants, and two decorative glasses on her head.
"Crocus sent you, right? Follow me."
The two followed her and arrived in a room.
It wasn't really a sickroom, but rather a relatively large room.
Dr. Kureha looked at Luffy and said, "It's impressive that you got up here in the blizzard, but it's about time to put the patient down. From my perspective, she's not so sick that she can't walk."
Upon hearing this, Kaya blushed fiercely. She hadn't even thought about getting off Luffy's back because it was so warm.
"Sorry, please put me down, Mr. Luffy!"
Luffy put her down and also came out of his Nika form...
He told Kureha, "Please help check her condition."
Kureha made Kaya sit down and began to ask about her illness.
Kaya cooperated well.
Luffy suddenly had nothing else to do.
He turned his head and saw a small reindeer head peeking through the door, watching curiously.
Unlike his previous form at the castle gate, he was now standing on two feet.
Luffy smiled and immediately walked toward him.
The reindeer was startled and quickly tried to hide.
However, although he hid his head, his body was still exposed, making his actions seem very funny.
"What is your name?"
Luffy crouched down and asked with a smile.
"Aren't you afraid of me?" Chopper said, dumbfounded. "My name is Tony Tony Chopper."
"Why should I be afraid? You're a talking raccoon-dog who ate the Human-Human Fruit. There's nothing strange about that."
"I'm not a raccoon-dog, I'm a reindeer!"
Chopper immediately retorted.
"Hahaha, how cute. Do you want to come on my ship?"
"Even if you praise me, I won't be happy, you idiot~"
As he was very happy, his entire body twitched.
At that moment, Kureha's voice came from where she was treating Kaya:
"Just like Chopper, you're also a Devil Fruit user, right? That sudden transformation earlier—was it a Zoan type?"
"That's right, I ate a Zoan-type Devil Fruit too."
Chopper was shocked and excited to meet someone like him. "You turned into an animal too?"
Suddenly, he felt a sense of kinship!
"I'm a human. I ate the Zoan-type Devil Fruit, the Hito Hito no Mi: Model Nika."
"Model: Nika? That's even rarer than a Logia!"
Kureha looked at Luffy with surprise, lost in thought.
Chopper felt like he'd been struck by lightning!! Why is there such a big difference between everyone who's eaten a Zoan-type Devil Fruit?
The sense of kinship... vanished!
"Hahaha." Luffy chuckled and reached out to rub Chopper's head. "Chopper, come join my crew. The outside world is huge—and you're a doctor."
"No!"
Chopper tried to run away, but he obviously couldn't escape Luffy's grip. With a stretch of his hand, he was pulled back.
Kaya watched the two playing and smiled, then said to Kureha:
"Um, about my illness..."
"Hmm? Little girl, are you asking me the secret to eternal youth?"
"Uh... I heard you're already over 140 years old."
"You shouldn't say things like that so casually, little girl. I'm still young and beautiful—I'm only 139!"
Kureha showed a frightening expression.
Kaya was scared and sweating profusely. "Yes, yes!"
That night.
The snowstorm outside had stopped.
Inside Dalton's house, the lit fireplace brought warmth.
As a guest, Sanji took the initiative to help in the kitchen.
"I wonder how Kaya and the others are..." Nami said worriedly.
"Don't worry, Nami-chan. With Luffy-aniki there, everything will be fine!" Johnny said with absolute confidence.
Dalton smiled and said, "The snowfall has stopped now. If you want to go up the mountain, you can take the trail in the back and ride the cable car up."
"Hmm?" Suddenly, Zoro, who was drinking mulled wine, frowned and looked in a certain direction.
"What happened, Zoro?" Usopp calmly sipped his tea.
"There's a presence approaching our ship."
Zoro's gaze narrowed slightly, and he immediately stood up and walked toward the door. "I'll check. It could be the Baroque Works assassins."
Sanji, who was cooking, was shocked. "I can't accept this! Is it really possible for this moss-head to awaken Observation Haki from that far away? It's really far!"
"Usopp, you should go with him too. He might get lost," Nami said quickly.
"Understood. Hey, Zoro, wait for me. Don't leave, or you'll get lost!" Usopp said.
Just as Zoro was about to leave, he turned around. "Who would get lost?!"
At the same time, at the Sunny and Merry's docking point...
At Merry's storage room.
A tall woman appeared in the doorway.
"So everyone's here?" She raised her eyebrows. "These people are really lax. They didn't even send anyone to stand guard."
All the sleeping prisoners opened their eyes.
"Miss Doublefinger!" Mr. 3's eyes lit up. "Did the boss send you to rescue us?"
"No, I just came to take a look," the woman said, kicking her leg and cutting the ropes holding the prisoners. With a hand on her hip, she said, "Now, listen to my orders. Let's go together and deal with the Straw Hat Crew, and the little princess!"
Upon hearing this, all the recently released prisoners turned pale.
In the next second, the three of them tied the broken ropes around themselves again.
Miss Doublefinger: "..."
What are these idiots doing?
The three of them said in unison: "I think it's really nice here!"
(End of chapter)
Give me some power stones there you go~😉