Chapter Text
The snow dusted the port and the distant icy cliffs. It brightened the land and made it open like the sea, calling out for someone to cross its shores. Luffy stared wide-eyed at the white expanse, taking in the tundra and nearly bouncing in excitement.
With wonder-wide eyes, the young captain rolled a handful of the powdery snow between bare hands. He marked a target, namely a certain unawares sniper, and took aim.
At the peak of his pitch, the world went black and the snowball exploded into a cloud of useless white flurries in his grasp. Luffy untangled himself from the winter coat trap and looked up at Sunny's deck to see Nami frowning down at him.
"Really, will you ever learn?" She sighed, tossing down a pair of mittens next.
"Thanks, Nami!" Luffy beamed, just now realizing the numbness creeping up his legs and down his arms.
Properly dressed (excusing his footwear, of course,) Luffy went back to packing snow into ammunition. Unfortunately, Usopp caught on to his plan too soon and was already working on a pile of his own.
The sight of Chopper and Sanji gathering packs and empty cloth sacks reminded Luffy that the duo planned on making the trek into the only town on this winter island. Luffy looked between his snowball pile and the vast tundra. He placed down the snowball he'd been working on, deciding to save the snowball fight for later.
“Oi, Usopp! Wanna go to that village with me?”
~~~
Sanji frowned when he saw Luffy approaching. To be honest, Sanji was expecting the addition. He'd hoped they could sneak away while Luffy was occupied, but no such luck. The cook was well prepared with all the reasons why Luffy coming with them to buy food from a quiet, secluded village was a horrible idea.
“I’m coming, too!” Luffy called, waving his arms excitedly as he tromped toward them.
Sanji opened his mouth to protest, but all that escaped was a sigh. Luffy had that look in his eyes. Arguing with him would just be a waste of daylight.
“I’ll go make another lunch."
~~~
"Sanji~" Luffy whined. "Food!"
Sanji ignored the request, having heard it a dozen times already on the trip back to the port. Not surprisingly, Luffy had devoured his lunch five minutes into the trip to the village, leaving him begging for more the rest of the way there and back.
The village, built in the heart of the island, was small and wary of outsiders. The trio (Usopp had sadly come down with a bad case of cant-walk-miles-in-the-snow-itus) barely had time to warm their bones in the shops before promptly being asked to move along.
Luffy was trudging through the snow a few feet behind Sanji and Chopper. The two food sacks he carried contained fruits, vegetables, spices, and other less appealing items. Sanji split the bags of meat between himself and Chopper; he was grateful that Chopper's medical supply list was light this time.
The walk back really wasn't much farther than a few miles. Even with the snow slowing them down the Sunny would likely come into view within the hour, Sanji thought.
Except it never did. The wind picked up, howling as it scattered the light snow, forming walls of white all around them. The temperature plunged and the cold wind whipped at their faces.
"Nami...never...said...anything about... a storm... did she?" Chopper asked, barely audible above the wind and his own shivering. Walking point was helpful for getting through the deep snow, but didn’t do much for keeping the reindeer as warm as he’d like.
“An island with this much snow must get storms like this pretty frequently. We’re not far from the port.” Sanji shouted back.
“OH… that's… good! Even I’m…freezing!” Chopper shivered.
They walked on for another few minutes in silence, pushing against the howling gale. Sanji didn't notice that Chopper had stopped walking until he bumped into him.
Chopper was looking behind them, squinting to see through the veil of blowing snow.
"Oi, what's wrong, Chopper?” Sanji asked, trying to sense anything unusual behind them.
“Where’s Luffy?”
Well shit .
~~~
Luffy yanked at his leg, pulling with all his strength to try and free it. All he ended up doing was stretching, which really, really hurt when he was as cold as he was now. Cold rubber absolutely did not stretch well when frozen.
His feet were numb from the snow and it was difficult to tell exactly what had happened to his poor foot. It hurt like hell, whatever it was, and that was with it being numbed by the ice. The struggle caused him to sink deeper as the layer of hardened snow he was standing on caved under him.
Luffy glared at the snow that now trapped him waist deep. He looked ahead to call out to his friends to come back and give him a hand, only to realize that he had fallen much farther behind than he thought. Either that, or the thick white curtain of blowing snow was completely blinding him.
The wind was throwing the snow around fiercely, and Luffy wondered if this is what it felt like to be stuck in one of those strange glass globes Robin showed him once.
“OOOOIIII! SANJI! CHOPPER!”
The wind ate his calls, swallowing them whole in its violent whistling.
Luffy struggled to pull himself up, only to have his hands sink through the crunchy snow beside him. He cried out as the contents of the bags he was in charge of carrying spilled out. He leaned forward and forced his arm to stretch, hissing at the pain.
He snagged a couple of apples and tossed them back in the sack. When he leaned forward to stretch for more of the lost food he ended up with a face full of hard, icy snow. His body sunk deeper until his eyes could barely see the landscape.
"Ugh, stupid snow." Luffy growled. His hands stretched out to the firm snow above him only for it to crumble under his weight. "This is almost as bad as quicksand!"
He looked around and spotted what looked to be a lean, dark tree not quite out of his reach. Had that been there this whole time? It was difficult to tell for sure, but Luffy stretched out both arms, grasped his target, and pulled. He screamed out in agony as whatever had his foot cut further down his ankle. It didn't release him like he'd hoped but the resistance was suddenly gone.
Half way through his short flight he realized the tree wasn’t quite a tree after all.
Luffy collided with the Sanji-tree and sent them both flying back. The world seemed to rumble. Something let go beneath them; sharp cracking followed by a feeling of freefall. When it was all over, the world was dark and quiet and cold, and Luffy couldn’t breathe.
~~~
Sanji woke up to the sound of rustling bags and the feeling of falling asleep in a freezer. He sat up and blinked, half panicked, because he was sure his eyes were opened and yet…
Nothing. No shadows or shades of black that usually came with darkness, just a complete void.
The rustling paused. Luffy must have sensed that he was awake.
“Sanji?”
Sanji had sensed Luffy nearby as soon as he woke up, but hearing his friend’s voice calmed him down in a way he’d never admit. A sound that wasn’t quite footsteps came from Luffy’s direction.
“Yeah. Where the hell are we?”
“A cave.”
“A cave?”
“I think so,” Luffy replied, his voice closer now. “It’s hard to tell when it’s this dark. There’s lots of hard snow, but I felt some rock, too.”
“How long have I been out?” Sanji asked, too relieved that he hadn’t gone blind to worry about his throbbing head.
“Hmmm… I don’t know! I had to dig myself out of that pile of snow,” Luffy explained, and Sanji guessed he was likely pointing. “Then I found you. At least we're ok, right!?”
Sanji stood up and was happy to find that the ground was hard and easy to walk on. He shot his hands skyward to feel for a ceiling, but swiped at nothing but air. He felt ridiculous as he moved forward, arms spread out and feeling for a wall. When he found one, he felt around and realized that Luffy was right. It did seem like they were in some sort of underground cave, buried beneath the snow.
Feeling more like a trapped animal than he'd like to admit, Sanji immediately thought of the food they'd been carrying. Chopper had offered to take his bags ahead to Sunny while Sanji turned back to find their wayward captain.
The meat was gone but that still left two bags of fruits and vegetables. With that knowledge, the fear building in Sanji's gut was quieted, and his mind was free to think of a plan that would get them out of this situation.
In the end, the best Sanji could come up with was to look for a way out, or at the very least a source of light. He patted the lighter in his pocket, promising himself a smoke as soon as they moved out of the stale air.
"Luffy, give me the bags. I'll carry them," Sanji said, reaching out to feel for the cloth bags.
The bag Luffy handed him was light. Much, much too light, and with newfound dread Sanji reached inside where his hand brushed across two smooth, apple-sizes fruits.
"This... this is it?" It came out as little more than a disbelieving whisper.
"Sorry, Sanji," Luffy muttered, and to be fair, it was the most sincere apology Sanji had ever heard from the boy regarding food.
Sanji let his back slide down against the cold wall. He dug into his front pocket, oxygen be damned, because an icy cave really wasn't much better than a desolate rock. The lighter came to life, offering him a quick glance at Luffy, who was looking...pained? Remorseful? The look was enough for Sanji to bite back his insults.
His hands shook with the urge to grab Luffy by the shoulders and shake him. Shake him until he felt as afraid as Sanji did.
He couldn't do this again. He wasn't strong enough to do this again. And he definitely wasn't strong enough to sit back and watch as Luffy starved to death. Sanji could probably go weeks on two apples. The snow made water a non-issue.
But Luffy? Luffy burned through calories at a freakishly accelerated rate. Even if Sanji ordered him to sit still and do absolutely nothing, there's no way that Luffy would last more than four or five days without food.
And how long would it take for the others to find them? In a snowstorm with miles and miles of land to cover?
The snow would cover their footprints. Would Chopper remember where they'd last seen Luffy? Not likely. The storm was too disorienting.
He could shout at himself that help would come all he wanted. He could tell himself that the rest of the crew would come. But the unceasing screams of what-if wouldn't be silenced.
Sanji took a long drag of his cigarette, trying to slow his breathing.
"You can have them," Luffy said suddenly.
Sanji shook off his heavy thoughts and processed Luffy's words.
"Two apples? I can have TWO SHITTY APPLES!? LIKE THAT'S ENOUGH? IDIOT !" Sanji snarled, hands shaking in fury.
Luffy didn't reply, but that was fine with Sanji. He needed time to cool down. To think .
He heard his captain scoot away. A strange groaning sound, like a rusty hinge was accompanied by frustrated grunts.
Sanji ignored it. He didn't need to get caught up in whatever stupidity Luffy was up to now. No, now it was the time to think. To plan.
Just in case.
He palmed the apples gently, their presence both a comfort and a terrible reminder. His bonfire sized anger eventually died down to a hot smolder.
When the two eventually set off to search the cave, it was in silence.
~~~
"You're slow."
Luffy frowned, knowing Sanji was right. He was falling behind, his ankle was cut deeply where the bear trap was still biting into it.
He knew animal traps. He, Ace and Sabo had never used them, but they weren't below stealing caught prey from guys who did. Ace had even stepped in one before, and Sabo had said if his leg were any bigger it would have really cut in deep.
So he knew traps had a release. That was how you could steal a bear and make it look like nothing was caught to begin with. But this trap must have rusted so bad that the release switch got locked too tight.
He'd almost used haki to just smash it when the mental image of the trap's blades severing his foot off made him pause. The trap was cutting in too deep to use haki around his ankle. Hitting the stupid thing would probably be a bad idea.
He'd started to ask Sanji for help, but his cook was still in a really, really bad mood. Plus, what could Sanji do about this that Luffy couldn't? It's not like they had any light to see how bad it was.
After some prying- and an ugly collection of nasty cuts on his fingers- Luffy had given up trying to free his foot. He'd just have Chopper handle it once they got out of this stupid ice cave.
Instead, he took off his coat and wrapped it around the trap to help catch some of the blood. And hopefully keep it a little warm. The ice cold metal piercing his skin was awful, and the extra pressure on the wound was agony.
He must have been bleeding through the coat, though. The bleeding made walking slippery, and the pain made it difficult to put weight on.
So yeah, Sanji was right. He was way slower than usual, even though they couldn't walk all that fast without being able to see anything anyway.
Still, more than the pain, there was one thing on his mind.
"Fooooooood," Luffy moaned, answered only by the growl of a stomach that wasn't his own.
That's right, Sanji hadn't gotten the chance to eat his lunch, had he? And Luffy had lost most of their food in the snow.
"Hey, Sanji? Are you going to eat those apples?"
"Like hell I'm giving them to you, if that's what you mean." Sanji snapped. "If you didn't clean off the rest of the food, we'd be fine for a while."
Luffy frowned. That's not what he meant. Yeah, he'd lost the food but it wasn't like it was on purpose.
It didn't really matter though because either way they were stuck down here in this weird cave without food. And that was his fault.
Sanji was scared, and Luffy knew that Sanji's bark was always loudest when he was scared. It's just how he dealt with it. Nothing scared Sanji more than running out of food so Luffy wasn't surprised by his friend's attitude.
Plus, he did feel a tad guilty about the whole ordeal. He'd been the one who'd wanted to tag along.
And the one to get caught in some dumb trap.
He'd spilled the food bags, too.
And then literally dragged Sanji down here with him.
He got them into this mess, but it wasn't like they wouldn't be able to get out, right? They were both strong. Their friends were smart so they'd definitely figure out what happened. When the storm stopped they would come and find them.
"Zoro and everyone will find us in no time, so don't worry!" Luffy assured his friend, fully confident if was the truth.
"They'd better," Sanji muttered.
~~~
Chopper collapsed on the dock leading to Sunny panting and wheezing for breath. The frigid air stung his lungs and his body trembled with exhaustion.
Someone called out to him and then gentle hands were untying the load from around his neck. He cracked his eyes open and gave them time to focus before looking around.
Usopp and Nami were in front of him, made fuzzy by the thick falling snow. He allowed himself to revert to Brain Point. Immediately he was scooped up into strong arms and held protectively against Usopp's chest. Nami kept pace with them as they retreated back to the ship, an arm up to shield her face from the whipping wind and snow. Her lips were moving but her words were eaten by the howl of the world around them.
Chopper nuzzled close to his friend, hiding his own face until he was met by a wave of warmth and silence.
Peeking up once more he realized he was inside Sunny's galley. He let out a sigh of relief and relaxed in Usopp's arms.
"Chopper! You alright? That's one hell of a storm you guys got stuck in!" A familiar voice boomed.
"I-I'm ok, Franky! I think…" Chopper groaned. He was strong but that trek really was a workout! Especially with eighty pounds of meat strapped to his back. He perked up a bit as he remembered why he'd carried that extra weight to begin with.
"Are Sanji and Luffy ok?" He asked as Usopp set him down on the bench.
"That's what we wanted to ask you, actually," Nami said, sounding a bit uneasy.
"You were gone for over six hours, Chopper. We were really starting to get worried! Luffy and Sanji still haven't come back."
"S-six hours?!" Chopper cried. "Was it really that long? It only took us an hour to get there, then we stayed for another hour and headed back. The villagers didn't really want us to stick around, though. They weren't very happy with us being there but they did let us shop. Then we left and the storm started up and it was really hard to see and we lost Luffy, so Sanji went back to find him and I knew it felt like I was walking forever, I couldn't really tell where I was going but I didn't realize I was so lost-"
"Oi, oi, oi! "Usopp gently interrupted his anxious friend's rambling. "Calm down, Chopper! It's ok! I'm sure Sanji and Luffy are fine. I mean, it's Sanji and Luffy . Those two can handle a little snow! You said Sanji went back to find Luffy, right? They probably both got turned around and ended up back at the village!"
"Really? You think so?" Chopper sniffled.
Nami, Franky and Usopp gave him reassuring nods. Chopper could tell they were worried. He was getting better at reading human emotions. But they were also choosing to trust in Sanji and Luffy to take care of themselves.
"You're right!" Chopper nodded, "Luffy and Sanji are strong. They'll definitely be OK!"
"That's right," Nami smiled, laying a gentle hand on top of his hat, "and when they do get back we can charge them for keeping us waiting."
"Mmm hmmm!" Chopper agreed with a giggle. He smiled thankfully as Usopp set a mug of hot chocolate down in front of him.
"Oh, but where's everyone else?"
"Robin and Zoro are in the crow's nest keeping an eye out. Robin was the one who spotted you, Chopper. But the visibility is so low that she didn't see you until you were on the dock. Brook thought he'd use his devil fruit to search the area but…he hasn't come back yet, either." Nami sighed.
Chopper followed Nami's gaze to the corner of the room where Brook's skeleton sat unmoving. Chopper hadn't even noticed him there.
"Well," Franky clapped, drawing everyone's attention, "you rest up, Chopper. Usopp, help me get all this meat into the fridge. Sanji'll pissed if he gets back and sees it sitting out like this."
Chopper sipped his hot cocoa and watched the others work. He tried to relax. He should take a nap in the infirmary once he warmed up. He had to be ready and rested for when Luffy and Sanji got back, just in case they needed him.
His eyes couldn't help but dart over to Brook's lifeless form. He really, really hoped all his nakama would be back soon.