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As we sailed further, the air grew colder and colder, and soon, it began to snow. It had been a long time since I'd seen snow, and it was a welcome change.
Luffy and Usopp were already on deck, building snowmen and enjoying the falling flakes. Nami had assigned Sanji to shoveling duty, while Zoro slept peacefully off to the side, with Rose curled up, hugging him.
Suddenly, Nami ran out of the galley, threw the door open, and knocked me off the railing I was sitting on.
"Ow! What the hell, Nami?" I yelled, rubbing my head.
"Turn the ship around! We're sailing the wrong way!" she screamed, completely ignoring my complaint. "The log reset on its own!"
Our two new guests, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday, were kicked out onto the deck to help us with the sails. As soon as we had everything set, the wind changed direction again.
"Ah, the spring breeze," the man and woman sighed, taking it all in.
"Jeez, Zoro, wake up and help us! Rose, stop being creepy and help out!" I demanded, but neither of them moved. Zoro was completely out, and Rose was too wrapped up in her own world to notice.
What happened next was a chaotic nightmare of torn sails, icebergs, holes in the hull, and giant frogs and dolphins.
"What is going on with this ocean?!" Nami shrieked, struggling to keep the ship under control.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we escaped the madness. We all collapsed on the deck, utterly exhausted.
"Get off me, woman!" Zoro yawned, waking up and pushing Rose off him.
"No, come back and lie with your true love!" Rose yelled, chasing after him.
"The weather's nice and all, but there's no reason to lie around like that," Zoro said, looking down at our tired bodies.
You two are unbelievable!
"Didn't I throw you two overboard?" Rose asked our new passengers.
"Yeah, but we're headed to their town, so they hitched a ride," Luffy explained, still sleepy.
"What's with your faces? You two look like bad news. What were your names again?" Rose interrogated them.
"Mr. Nine," the man said.
"And I'm Miss Wednesday," the woman added.
"That's it! Your names sound really familiar, like I've heard them before," Rose said, scratching her head.
"She's not alone. They sound familiar to me, too," Zoro chimed in, agreeing with Rose.
THUNK! Nami hit both Rose and Zoro over the head with her fist for abandoning us when we needed help.
"I've come to the conclusion that my skills are useless out here," Nami said confidently, "but don't worry, I'll make it work."
"There it is!" Luffy yelled. "Our first stop: Whiskey Peak!"
The fog cleared, and the island came into view. Huge cactuses grew out of the ground, towering over everything.
"Bet it would be painful to fall on one of those," I said, poking Usopp in the back.
"Don't say that!" he shrieked.
Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday said their goodbyes and jumped off the ship.
"What if there are monsters?" Usopp and Rose whimpered.
"No big deal," Luffy reassured them. "If there are, we'll just run."
"We might not be able to," Nami explained. "You'll have to wait for the log to reset to our next destination. It could take an hour or a couple of days."
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I said, trying to reassure the scared duo.
"Let's go! Sail up the river!" Luffy yelled as we steered the ship inland.
The fog grew thicker as we approached, making it hard to see anything.
"Everyone be ready to act on a moment's notice," I warned the crew.
If you listened closely, you could hear people talking, but the fog was so thick you could barely see your own hand in front of your face.
"I hear something," Rose said.
Just then, the fog lifted, revealing a huge crowd of people cheering and yelling, "Welcome to Whiskey Peak!"
"What's happening?" Sanji asked, confused.
"There are no monsters, just cheering people," Usopp said, his relief evident.
"There are so many people, and they're all cheering for us," Nami added, perplexed.
"Yahoo!" Luffy yelled, excited.
This was certainly unexpected.
"Yeah!" I joined in the cheering.
"Welcome! Welcome to Whiskey Peak! My name is Igaram!" a man said, introducing himself.
Igaram invited us to a banquet, promising a night of celebration as we told "tales of our valor." Luffy, Sanji, Rose, and Usopp were ecstatic. Zoro, Nami, and I just stared at them, completely dumbfounded.
Nut jobs.
"How long will the log take to reset?" Nami asked the man.
"Put such frivolous things out of your mind and have some fun," he said, ushering Nami inside and completely ignoring her question.
Why didn't he answer her?
Rose's Point of View
"PARTY!" I was so excited. I hadn't been to a party this big in a long time. I wonder if Zoro will play spin the bottle with me.
"That look on your face is creepy," Nami teased. "You're thinking about Zoro again, aren't you?"
"Why... what are you talking about?" I said with a nervous laugh.
"Well, good luck with him. Zoro's quite a catch," she said, looking over at my soulmate.
She wants him!
"Keep away, you harlot!" I yelled.
"I'm not interested in him. That idiot is all yours. Hey, look, a drinking contest!" Nami dragged me over to a table where Steve and Zoro were sitting.
"Ladies," my brother said, greeting us.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, giving him a suspicious look.
"It's... fine," he mumbled.
Some women announced a drinking contest with a cash prize. That was all Nami needed to hear to join in.
"A woman like you could never outdrink me," Zoro told Nami.
What?!
"Are you saying that since Nami's a girl, she's weaker than you?!" I asked, glaring at him.
"He's not wrong. Biologically, women usually have a lower tolerance than men," Steve said, backing up Zoro.
I grabbed a mug and threw it at him, knocking him over the bench.
"Whoa, talk about overkill! He's out cold!" Nami said.
"I don't need a lecture on booze from him," I huffed. "I'll play, too."
Dumbass brother.
Many Drinks Later.
By this point, most of the other competitors had passed out. Only the true contenders were left standing.
SLAM! "Amazing! This guy just outdrank ten people!"
"And these girls just took down two more!"
"You should just give up, Zoro. Nami and I have you beat."
THUD!
Zoro was barely hanging on.
Time for my master plan!
I turned my back to Zoro and slipped off my jacket, leaving me in just my tank top. I gave him an innocent look. "Zoro… if you give up, maybe I'll turn around."
"Ugh, it's not worth it." THUD!
"The green-haired man is down!"
"Yay, us!" Nami and I cheered.
"But which one of the girls will win the whole thing?" the announcer asked.
I put my jacket back on and looked at Nami. "Wanna split the winnings, my new best friend?"
"Sure," Nami said, and we both fell to the floor, passed out.
When I finally came to, everyone who wasn't a member of our crew was gone.
"Where'd they all go?" I asked out loud. I saw Zoro asleep nearby and walked over to snuggle with him, waking him up.
"Get off me, woman!" he said, shoving me away.
"You're so rough... I like it," I laughed.
"Where is everyone?" Zoro asked.
"They're asleep. Something is up," I said, my voice turning serious as I straightened my jacket.
"Let's go take a look around," Zoro said, climbing a ladder up to the roof.
I followed him. When we got outside, we saw the two people we had given a ride to standing with Igaram and another woman. They were discussing their plan to capture Luffy and Steve and take our ship.
"Sorry, but they've had a long day," Zoro said, alerting them to our presence. "You should let them rest."
A crowd of people ran out from where we had been. "Mr. 8, Miss Monday, two of them escaped!"
So that guy is really Mr. 8.
"So this place is just a cover for a bounty hunter den. How sad. This looked like such a nice place, didn't it?" Zoro said.
"Yes, and I count at least a hundred of you. You'll make excellent targets, Baroque Works," I answered with a smile. "It's been a while since I fought with you, Zoro. Wanna have some fun, babe?"
That whole lovesick routine is just an act Zoro and I put on to keep Steve off our backs. We're very much in a pleasant relationship.
"How do you know our name?!" the crowd was in a tizzy that we had caught on to their act.
"A secret organization that uses code names and keeps their boss's location hidden?" Zoro explained. "A group that demands complete obedience from its members? We know so much because they tried to recruit us once."
"Something about being Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day. What tacky names," I added to Zoro's story. "I'd clearly be better as a Miss Memorial Day."
They began to mumble among themselves about needing two tombstones. Zoro and I took the opportunity to get off the roof and into a better position. I moved through the crowd while Zoro took a spot near the back.
"Kill them! Where'd they go?!"
They turned around to find Zoro near the back, and when they shot at him, they only hit their own crew members.
"Fools, just kill them! It's only two people," Mr. 8 said, but then he gasped when he felt one of my knives against his throat.
"You're sure you're only gonna need two tombstones?" I whispered in his ear. "'Cause I can for sure take down at least fifty of you guys, no problem."
I heard multiple rifles being loaded as they pointed their weapons at me.
"There's the woman!"
"Stop! You'll shoot me, too!" Mr. 8 pleaded before pulling out a saxophone. He blew into the horn, and bullets came out, shooting his own men. I ran to Zoro as Mr. 8 turned around to blast me.
"That thing doubles as a shotgun! Cool!" I said, my eyes wide with excitement.
"Stay focused. We can cover more ground if we split up," Zoro said.
"You just want to try out those dumb swords, don't you? You care about them more than me, I bet," I said, giving him a pouty look.
Zoro was looking forward to trying out his two new swords, Kitetsu and Yubashiri. An agent of Baroque Works alerted us to his presence, forcing us to retreat into a building. We turned around and saw a horde of hunters pointing pistols at us. Zoro kicked a table up to block the hail of bullets. I jumped out the window, separating myself from Zoro, who went out the front door.
"They've split up!" the agents informed each other.
I was running around, dispatching bounty hunter after bounty hunter, when I felt someone approaching me from behind. I turned around and swatted a knife out of a child's hands. A woman came to the kid's defense, begging me to spare him.
"Try that on someone who will fall for it," I said, already behind them as they fell to the ground. "Don't worry, I missed the vital parts."
I continued my rampage, taking down members left and right, my various daggers getting coated in blood as I pulled them from my jacket's hidden compartments. I heard an ear-splitting scream from across the town.
Zoro must be having fun.
I made my way to a roof to get a better view. I saw Miss Wednesday riding a duck and Mr. 8 shooting at Zoro.
"You should watch your back! Can you keep up with my acrobatic skills?" I turned around and saw Mr. 9 flipping toward me with a pair of metal bats in his hands. I blocked them with my knives, which were much smaller than his bats. He landed behind me, but I just flipped back and stood there.
"Look, I can do fancy jumps, too," I smirked. "But I don't even need my acrobatics to beat your sorry butt."
"What, too scared to move?" he taunted.
I turned and threw a dagger past him, barely missing his face. I kept throwing dozens of daggers at Mr. 9.
"You're barely dodging my Knife Storm!"
"I'll show you!" The man started flipping until he jumped right off the roof.
It's just sad.
I jumped down after him to regroup with Zoro, who I saw on the ground nearby.
"You holding up all right?" Zoro asked.
"I'm okay," I said, smiling.
"I won't forgive you for defeating me!" Mr. 9 jumped up and shot his bat at me.
Does he know he did that to himself?
I got caught on the chain that shot out of the bat. "Finish her, Mr. 8!"
Zoro moved to help me. "Don't move, or I'll kill your friend."
I looked over and saw that Miss Wednesday had a sword to a sleeping Luffy's stomach. Mr. 8 pulled his tie, and machine guns extended from the rolls in his hair.
"He's like some lame toy," I said, pulling on the chain and sending Mr. 9 flying into the air. "This fight isn't fun anymore. It's just tedious!"
The man collided with the bullets and then got sent flying into his partner. I ran forward, using Luffy as a trampoline. "You're finished! Buzz-Saw Slicer!" I yelled, cutting Mr. 8 with a handful of blades as I spun in the air.
I looked down at Zoro. "We're done here."