"Okay, done. This is the man who fell from the sky, Mr. Snowman," Luffy said, patting the cross-eyed snowman with satisfaction.
"Hahahaha... your snow-playing method is so low-level. Look, this is my masterpiece, born from the art of my soul, the Snow Queen!" Usopp declared proudly, striking a pose.
Orochimaru glanced at the miniature "Kabuto" in his hand, which was unrecognizable, then crumpled it up and threw it away. His loyal subordinate wouldn't mind.
"Is this Kaya?" Orochimaru slyly poked a hole with his tail in the support under the snow sculpture.
"Hahahahaha, of course not!" Usopp's face flushed slightly, and he shyly covered it. The next moment, he turned to find his snowman inexplicably crumbling.
"Ahhhhhh! My Queen!" Usopp shrieked, looking at the snow scattered on the ground. Upon closer inspection, he found a small hole at the base?
"Orochimaru, it was you! You sly snake!" the shark-faced Usopp roared.
Orochimaru blinked, a look of innocence on his face. "It wasn't me."
Luffy picked his nose, watching the show with schadenfreude. Usopp glared at the amused Luffy. Being cowardly, Usopp decided to vent his anger, throwing a snowball that destroyed Luffy's snowman.
"Ahhh! My Mr. Snowman! How dare you!" Luffy headbutted Usopp in the stomach.
"The younger brother's debt is paid by the older brother! Didn't you say you were the older brother! Prepare to die!"
Usopp went all out, snowballs flying everywhere. Luffy turned and pushed an enormous snowball towards Usopp, burying him under it. Usopp, holding the snowball, got up and threw it at Luffy. The two quickly devolved into a brawl in the snow.
The culprit, Orochimaru, buried himself in the snow, merging with it and pretending not to exist.
A storm raged, and everyone rushed to work, even the strange duo locked in the storeroom had to come out and help.
Orochimaru transformed into a giant snake, coiling around the sails to prevent the ship from veering off course, and used his tail to help Nami forcefully pull the sails up.
Usopp urgently patched the leaking hull.
Sanji made a large pile of rice balls for Luffy and the others to replenish their strength, and he joined Usopp in patching the leaks.
After a flurry of activity, everyone collapsed on the deck, panting, as the sky cleared to a cloudless day.
Zoro, waking up, scratched his head, looking at the people lying on the ground and Orochimaru eating rice balls.
"Hey, hey, even if the weather's good, you're all too lazy. We should still be on the original course, right?"
"You...!" Sanji, Nami, and Usopp's veins bulged.
Zoro even squatted down with interest to look at the strange duo. Weren't these two locked in Orochimaru's storeroom?
Nami, with her innate Busoshoku Haki, silently stood behind Zoro. "You... I can't believe you've been sleeping so leisurely until now! No matter how much we called you, you just kept snoring!"
Zoro instinctively resisted Nami's hostile tone. Flames of anger emanated from both of them, but Nami's innate Busoshoku Haki successfully knocked a stack of bumps onto Zoro's head.
Looking at Zoro squatting on the ground, in pain and questioning life, Orochimaru expressed that he had come to terms with it. This world was just that unreasonable.
Anyway, it was all Kozuki Orochimaru's embarrassment. Only when he was wise was he *my* Orochimaru. What Kozuki Orochimaru did had nothing to do with *my* Orochimaru.
Nami looked ahead and spotted an island. As they were about to land, the strange duo struck very chuunibyou poses on the ship's railing.
"Thank you so much for bringing us back, sweethearts. Until we meet again, bye-bye baby!"
Orochimaru was disgusted by their words. Just as the two were about to tumble into the water, Orochimaru swatted them away with his tail. No one could show off in front of *my* Orochimaru and just leave, except for Sasuke.
Everyone gave a collective thumbs up. "Well done!"
Passing through the dense fog, the going merry sailed into Whiskey Peak, where people cheered enthusiastically.
"Welcome to the Grand Line! Welcome to our town! Welcome to the hospitable town of Whiskey Peak, pirates, welcome!"
Usopp, after a shocked glance, blew a kiss to the townspeople. "They're actually welcoming us! As expected, pirates are heroes of the sea!"
Orochimaru chuckled darkly. How could the malice in these people's bones deceive him? He leaned in close to Usopp's ear, his voice eerie.
"Of course they welcome pirates, because they are all Pirate Hunters. They use your heads to earn their living, so they are very happy about our arrival."
Usopp's face went pale with fright, and he swallowed hard. "No way... Ah... Luffy... I've caught a disease that prevents me from getting off the ship!"
Except for Zoro, everyone else was also shocked.
"They're... they're all Pirate Hunters? An entire town?"
"Yes, this entire town is made up of Pirate Hunters, affiliated with Baroque Works. They invited me before, but I refused. Let's see what's going on; don't alert them."
Luffy, however, was unconcerned. "Hahahaha... Food... I want food!"
As soon as they disembarked, the crew was led away to a banquet by a curly-haired man named Igaram. Orochimaru had no interest in such things.
He planned to go back and continue his experiments. The cloning and organ culturing experiments were almost complete, with only the final step remaining.
He instructed Luffy on a few matters, and Luffy nodded. Thanks to years of nagging, Luffy still trusted Orochimaru's judgment. Regarding the inexplicable 'goodwill' of strangers, he trusted Orochimaru's assessment more.
But food was paramount. For the sake of the food, he would go a little easier on them later.
Overnight, Orochimaru stared at the embryo with Hashirama cells in the petri dish. Orochimaru caressed the going merry. He had a very profound plotline in his mind, along with some conjectures, which might just be achievable.
"Is the keel truly the soul?"
Looking at the group of people in front of him, Orochimaru was expressionless.
"So, I told you to be careful of danger, and you brought back an even greater danger."
Orochimaru's face darkened, and he flicked his snake tongue, looking at the newly boarded person, the so-called Princess Vivi of Alabasta, the woman from that strange duo.
After Nami recounted everything, his attitude towards this person, who inexplicably put the crew in danger, became even worse, building on his initial lack of goodwill.
He looked at Nami and Usopp, who were terrified, pale, and crying while hugging each other. His fists itched. He punched Zoro and Sanji on the head, a blatant act of displaced anger. "Luffy is an idiot, are you two idiots too? Sanji, is it enough for you just because she's a woman? Zoro, you promised me you'd keep an eye on that idiot!"
He then turned, forcing a smile. "Luffy, I believe I told you not to pick up trash casually, didn_t I?"
Luffy indicated he was wrong, but he'd do it again next time. Orochimaru said nothing more; after all, it was his decision, and he knew Luffy's personality.
Luffy might not care, but he had to rectify some issues.