Snow muffled the world, turning sound into something distant and soft, as if Drum Island itself were holding its breath.
The cloud hovered low over the clearing, vast and steady, its surface rippling faintly with quiet arcs of blue light. Luffy kept it close—close enough that everyone could climb aboard at a moment's notice, close enough that it felt less like a tool and more like a promise. No matter what choice was made next, no one here would be left behind.
While they waited, time stretched in odd, gentle ways.
Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku had declared war on boredom and were in the middle of constructing what Usopp loudly claimed was the greatest snowman in the Grand Line. It leaned slightly to the left, wore a crooked hat that might once have been a helmet, and had a face carved with heroic seriousness. Vivi watched them with fond amusement, occasionally offering suggestions that were immediately ignored.
Luffy stood near the edge of the cloud, hands in his coat pockets, staring at the distant white slopes of Drum Rockies. Zoro leaned beside him, arms crossed, posture relaxed—but his eyes were sharp.
After a moment, Zoro spoke.
"Are you sure," he asked, voice low, "that pulling this place into the underworld is the right move?"
Luffy didn't look away from the mountains.
"Yeah."
Zoro glanced sideways at him. "That wasn't much of an explanation."
Luffy smiled faintly. "Doesn't need to be."
He tilted his head back slightly, eyes tracing invisible lines in the sky. "This island already sits on something priceless. Knowledge. Medicine. Skill that takes decades to grow. People kill for less."
Zoro frowned. "Medicine isn't exactly contraband."
"Not until scarcity enters the picture," Luffy replied. "Then it becomes leverage."
Zoro was silent, listening.
"We won't sell cures to the desperate," Luffy continued. "We'll sell exclusivity to the powerful. Hospitals, kingdoms, rich nobles who want guarantees. The black market just moves faster—and asks fewer questions."
"And the crew?" Zoro asked. "We're pirates. We can't exactly show up with invoices."
"That's why we won't," Luffy said simply. "This organization doesn't know me as Monkey D. Luffy."
Zoro finally turned fully toward him. "So you'll hide."
"I'll disappear," Luffy corrected. "Different name. Different shadow. The ship stays clean. The strength stays visible."
Zoro exhaled slowly, then nodded. "And the three from Little Garden?"
"They run the ground," Luffy said. "They already understand how this world works. The strong stay on the ship. Less risk that way."
Before Zoro could respond, a sound tore through the calm.
A scream.
Sharp. Furious. Unmistakable.
Everyone froze.
Nami looked up first. "That came from the castle."
Zoro's hand dropped instinctively toward his swords—then remembered they weren't there. "That didn't sound… friendly."
Luffy straightened.
"Everyone," he said quickly, "on the cloud. Now."
Confusion rippled through the group, but no one argued. One by one, they scrambled up, boots sinking slightly into the soft surface.
Vivi hesitated. "Luffy, what—"
"We've got an extremely angry doctor headed this way," Luffy said, already turning.
The cloud rose smoothly, lifting the crew just as the castle doors burst open.
Chopper came flying out of the entrance at full speed, hooves kicking up snow, dragging a sled piled high with supplies. Behind him—
"GET BACK HERE, YOU UNGRATEFUL RACCOON REINDEER—"
Dr. Kureha.
Furious. Armed. Terrifying.
"CHOPPER!" Luffy shouted.
Chopper's eyes widened as he spotted the cloud—and everyone standing safely above it.
"W-WAIT—!"
Luffy grinned. The cloud expanded outward like a living thing. In the same instant, lightning cracked.
Luffy vanished.
He reappeared beside Chopper, scooped him and the sled up in one smooth motion, and re-materialized on the cloud just as Kureha hurled something that exploded harmlessly in the snow below.
The cloud shot forward.
"I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THIS!" Kureha screamed, shaking her fist as pink smoke grenades detonated behind her in impotent fury.
Blue lightning spears rained down—not to strike her, but to plant themselves in the snow, crackling barriers that forced her to stop.
"I'LL BILL YOU FOR THIS!" she shouted after them.
On the cloud, chaos reigned.
"I need help!" Usopp groaned.
"Usopp?" Sanji looked around. "Where—"
"DOWN HERE!"
They looked down to see Usopp pinned under the sled, one arm sticking out weakly.
Vivi and Mikita rushed over, lifting it off him while he wheezed dramatically about internal injuries and heroic sacrifice.
Luffy, meanwhile, stood near Chopper.
The little reindeer stared back at the shrinking castle, shoulders trembling. His ears drooped. His eyes shimmered.
Luffy walked over and rested a hand gently on his hat.
No words. Just presence.
The crew gathered quietly around them.
Then—
BOOM.
The sound rolled across the sky, deep and thunderous.
Everyone turned.
"That was a cannon," Gem said sharply.
"From the castle," Usopp added, peering back.
Luffy's expression tightened. "They're not firing at us."
Another boom echoed. Then another.
The cloud slowed. Stopped.
Silence followed.
And then—
The sky bloomed.
Pink light burst above Drum Rockies, unfurling like a flower opening its petals. Smoke followed—rosy, luminous—spreading across the mountains.
Snow began to fall again.
But not white.
Petals.
Soft. Pink. Endless.
Chopper's breath hitched.
"…Doctor," he whispered.
The petals drifted down, brushing faces, coating the snow, turning the island into a living dream.
Luffy smiled.
"She kept her promise," he said softly.
Chopper screamed.
"DOCTOOORRRRRR!"
Tears streamed freely now as he collapsed to his knees, clutching a petal in shaking hands.
Zoro looked away, jaw tight.
Nojiko reached out, letting petals land in her palm. "It's beautiful."
"It looks like cherry blossoms," Johnny murmured.
Luffy closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he commanded the cloud forward.
They reached the ship minutes later.
As everyone disembarked, Chopper lingered at the railing, staring back at Drum Island until it vanished beyond the horizon.
"My dream came true," he thought. "Now… it's my turn."
Luffy climbed to the upper deck, the cloud reshaping beneath him into a familiar throne of light.
"Prepare to sail!"
Orders flew. Anchor up. Sails loose. The ship surged forward.
Sanji approached with Zoro, Vivi, and Nami.
"Dinner?" Sanji asked.
"Make it a feast," Luffy replied. "We're welcoming a doctor."
Before the mood could settle, Chopper yelped.
"My bag!"
Lightning cracked. Luffy was beside him instantly. "Who do I fight?"
Nami raised a small blue bag. "…This?"
Chopper froze. "…That's it."
Silence.
Then he cried again.
Luffy laughed quietly.
"Nami," he called as he turned away. "Set course."
She smiled. "Where to?"
Luffy looked toward the horizon, eyes sharp, grin dangerous.
"Alabasta."
Far away, sand waited.
And a warlord smiled—unaware that the storm had already chosen him.