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"Why'd you call me down here, Franky?" I asked.
Franky pulled out a tape measure and started writing down a bunch of numbers.
"Franky's got a genius idea," Wyper said, placing a screwdriver on the workbench.
"How would you like a new arm?" Franky asked me.
"What?"
"I built myself a new body; I can build one arm," he said. "It'll take a little time, but I'll make you a working arm."
"Yes, please!" I said, my heart pounding. "Can you really do it?"
"It'll take a few days," Wyper told me. "I'll let you know when we're ready to install it."
Could I really get my arm back?
This ship is great. It has so much stuff: a new kitchen, a workshop, an infirmary, and it even has a fish tank.
"Luffy, don't throw sharks into the fish tank!" I yelled, walking onto the deck. "They eat the other fish!"
Luffy just stuck his tongue out at me.
"Watch it, punk!"
"It's getting cold," Robin said, stepping out in a jacket.
"Yeah, it is," Nami said, putting her coat on. "We must be getting close to that ice flow Kokoro was talking about."
"I see an iceberg," Zoro said over the speaker.
As we got closer to the iceberg, it became more and more clear that we were entering The Frozen Highway.
"Steer carefully, Franky," Nami said. "We don't want to scratch the paint."
As soon as Nami said that, one of the ice chunks moved and blocked off a fork in the road.
"I guess we're going right," Sanji said.
"That was weird," Wyper said. "What was the current that moved a block like that?"
"Everyone, be careful," Nami said. "This doesn't feel right."
We slowly sailed through the flow as we got moved along from path to path.
"Why don't we just blast our way through?" I suggested.
"We can't afford to move the ice like that," Nami explained. "What if pieces landed on the ship or banged into other icebergs and moved the whole flow?"
"I think I can cut through if I go slowly," Wyper said, tightening the nozzle on his bazooka. "Precision Saw."
Wyper started slicing through the ice with his laser, hoping to cut a path for us to sail out.
"What…"
"What is it, Robin?" I asked.
"There's a girl on that iceberg," she said, pointing forward.
We looked forward and saw a young girl on the ice. She looked panicked, running from something.
"Wyper, stop!"
The whole ice block shifted and split in two. The two halves separated and floated apart.
"The kid!" Rose yelled.
The little girl got knocked around as the ice shifted and fell into the water.
"Oh, crap!"
"Move!" I pushed past Zoro and jumped into the water.
Hang on, kid.
I dove under and found the girl struggling to get back to the surface. I made my way over to her and grabbed her. I pulled the two of us back to the surface.
I broke the surface and took a huge breath. "You alright, kid?"
The girl was breathing, but she was unconscious and ice-cold.
"Hurry up and get me back up there!" I yelled. "Tell Chopper to get ready!"
Franky opened up one of the side doors, and I swam back into the ship. I put the girl down and pulled myself out of the water. I sprinted to the infirmary.
"Chopper!"
"I heard, put her on the bed," he said. "We need to dry her off and get her warmed up. You better get out of those wet clothes, too."
"I'll leave you to your work," I told him.
"What'd he say?" Usopp asked as I returned to the men's room to change.
"He's trying to warm her up as best he can. I hope she'll be okay," I said, throwing a new shirt and red flannel on.
Everyone else went on with their day while I waited in the infirmary for the girl to wake up. We had decided to drop anchor while we waited for the girl to wake up. Chopper had been keeping me company, but I told him to go eat and that I would watch the girl. The girl was small, not even in her teens; she had wavy blue hair and a cute face.
"You're in here all alone?" Robin said, entering the room with a bowl. "I brought you some soup."
"Thanks, beautiful," I said, taking the bowl.
"This is just like you," Robin said, pulling up a chair. "Taking interest in someone you barely know."
"I guess," I laughed. "You saw that girl first, did you see the look on her face?"
"Yes, she looked scared."
"Yeah, just what was she so afraid of?"
I looked over at the girl's things. She didn't have much: a backpack, a canteen full of water, and a purse. I don't even think she had food. The backpack had clothes which Wyper had put into his and Franky's new dryer. The purse was full of strange pods, but the thing was, the pods in the purse were inside a watertight bag. We talked for a while when Chopper came back in.
"She's waking up," Chopper said, taking the thermometer out of her mouth.
The little girl stirred awake and looked around. "Where am I?"
"You're on my ship," I told her. "I'm Steve; this is Robin, and that's Chopper. Who are you?"
"I'm Lil," she said, introducing herself and looking around nervously. "How'd I get here?"
"That would be our fault," Robin told her. "A careless action by us caused you to fall into the water. Luckily, Steve got to you before it was too late."
"My purse!" she said, getting nervous. "What was inside?"
"Just some weird pods," Chopper explained.
"They didn't get wet, that's good," she sighed. Then, she looked at Chopper. "A reindeer."
"I'm a rein… wait, you got it right!" Chopper cheered. "Everyone always thinks I'm a raccoon-dog!"
"You're obviously a reindeer; you have antlers," Lil said. "Any decent zoologist could see that."
"A zoologist?" Chopper said, confused.
"Someone who studies animals," Robin explained.
"I wanna be one someday," Lil said, smiling a bit. "I love animals. Someday I'd like to write a big book, one that lists all the animals in the world so that other people can learn about them, too."
"That's quite the dream," Robin told her. "I'm an archaeologist."
"Wow! That's so cool! I bet you do all kinds of cool work. I bet you find cool animal bones all the time."
"I mostly stick to humans, but I have seen some ancient animals."
"Lil," I called the girl's attention. "When we saw you on the ice flow, it looked like you were running from something."
"Oh, that. It's not a big deal."
"Humor me," I said. "What was so scary? What were you running from?"
"Home," she said, looking away.
"You're running away from home?" Robin said, confused.
"You're awfully young to be running away from home," Chopper said. "You can't be more than ten years old."
"I'm ten," she told him.
"Well, we should really get you home then," I told her. "Your parents must be worried sick."
"NO!" she yelled. "They're why I was running! Don't take me back, please!"
She's really spooked.
"I can't go back! They'll lock me away again!"
"Lil, calm down!" I said. "Everything's okay. Tell us what's wrong."
"I don't wanna go back to the tower!"
The tower?
Robin stepped up to the bed and hugged the girl. "It's okay. No one will hurt you here."
She's acting oddly emotional.
"Chopper, could you look after Lil for a few minutes?" Robin said. "You come with me."
I followed Robin back to the kitchen where the others were finishing up dinner.
"How's that girl?" Luffy asked, chewing.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," I said. "She's fine. Her name's Lil, and she's a girl who ran away from home."
"Well, then let's just take her home," Usopp said.
"That's just it," I told him. "The second I mentioned taking her home, she had a panic attack."
"That's weird," Nami said.
"I think I understand," Robin said.
"What do you mean?" Franky asked her.
"Do you remember that story Kokoro told us about this place? About the Accino family?"
"Yeah, she said they were bounty hunters who run this place," Rose said.
"Yes," Robin said, sighing. "I believe Lil is their daughter."
"What makes you say that?" Sanji asked.
"Do you remember how Kokoro mentioned that there was a rumor they keep their youngest daughter locked away?"
"Yeah, but she said it was just a rumor," Zoro said. "She said it might not be true."
"I see," I said, shaking my head. "One of the things Lil said was that she didn't want to go back to the tower."
"You don't mean…" Nami said, startled.
"Lil is the slave daughter from the story," I said, frowning. "They use her to get their work done and keep her locked away so she doesn't escape."
"That's so sad," Franky said, crying.
"What are we gonna do?" Zoro asked.
"I don't know," I said. "I'd feel bad if I just left her with a family like that. What kind of family does that? Where's the love? I need to know more about Lil so we can find out what to do."
I got up from the table and headed back to the infirmary. Luffy wasn't far behind.
"Steve," he said.
"Yeah, Luffy."
"Nothing," he said, shaking his head.
I just scoffed. "Yeah, sure. You wanna come meet the kid?"
"Sure."
We came back into the infirmary, and Lil was reading a book Chopper had lent her while he scribbled some things on a chart.
"Hi, Lil," I said. "This is my friend Luffy."
"Hi, I'm Luffy. I'm gonna be King of the Pirates," he said.
"Hello," she smiled. "That's a funny way of introducing yourself."
"What are you reading?" I asked.
"A book about veterinary practices," she said. "Chopper let me borrow it."
"I have it just in case we need to treat an animal," Chopper explained.
"Lil," I said, taking a seat near the bed. "Why did you run away from home?"
"Cause my parents are jerks."
"Yeah, I got the feeling they're more than that," I said. "I know you get locked in the tower."
"How do you know that?" she said, surprised.
"Why do they keep you up there?" Luffy asked. "What makes you so special that they can't let you get away? If you have powers, can't you just beat 'em up?"
"I have a special power, but it's not from a Devil Fruit," Lil got nervous and started playing with her fingers. "It's those pods."
She picked up the canteen and poured a glass of water. She dropped a pod into the water, and it foamed up.
"Whoa!" I said.
"Just watch," she said.
The glass foamed over and shattered, and when I looked back, there was a bird on Lil's wrist.
"Where'd that come from?!" Chopper asked, startled.
"That's what happens when the pods get wet; they hatch," she explained.
"How'd you do that?" I asked. "Is it a Devil Fruit power?"
"This is what makes me special; this is what makes me important to them," Lil said. "A few years ago, I read a book about how to make these pods.
My sister Arbell got the book from some pirates she caught. Mama and Papa used the animals I learned how to create to catch pirates. One day, there was an accident, and the book burned.
Now I was the only person who knew how to create the pods, but I didn't like the way Mama and Papa treated the animals, so I stopped making them.
They didn't like that, and since I refused to tell them the recipes, they locked me up and forced me to make them. They said if I didn't make them, they'd hurt my siblings, and they told my siblings if they didn't make sure I stayed up there, they'd hurt me bad."
"So if you did it to protect your family?" I said.
"Yeah. My siblings always wanted me to get away from the Ice Castle, my big sister Arbell especially, but I was too scared they'd get hurt if I ran. But today, I finally managed to get the courage to run."
"You're a brave girl, Lil," Luffy said.
"I hope they're okay…" she said, downcast.
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Wyper yelled over the speaker. "We've got five people coming at us!"
"They're here," Lil said. "My brothers and sister!"
"Chopper, stay in here and don't let anyone in," I told him.
"Got it." He shifted into his Heavy Point.
"I'll try not to hurt them," I told Lil, "but even if they're doing it out of love, I won't let them take you back to that house."
I closed the door behind Luffy and me and looked outside. Everyone was staring down a group of people at the edge of the Sunny. There were four men and a woman.
The woman had blue hair pulled up into a loose bun; she had a katana in a blue sheath strapped to her waist.
There was a set of twins dressed alike, the only difference being the color of their shirts. Finally, there was a blonde-haired man in a bad jacket and a man with a hockey stick.
"What are you doing on my ship?" Luffy asked.
"Where is Lil?" the woman said.
She must be the sister, Arbell.
"Away from you."
"Give us Lil, and we'll leave without a problem," the guy with the hockey stick said.
"The kid ain't going anywhere," Zoro said.
"Yeah, what kind of family lets their parents do that to a child?" Rose yelled. "It's despicable!"
"You don't know anything, girl," the twin in the blue said.
"Lil will be safest in the tower," the red twin said.
"I find that hard to believe," Nami said.
"If Lil doesn't get back before her parents find out," the blond man said, "her punishment will be much worse."
"She will never go back there," I said.
"Are you sure?" We turned around to find Chopper in his Jumping Point, holding Lil up by her hair.
"Ahh!" Lil cried out.
"Chopper, what are you doing?!" Sanji yelled.
"Who is Chopper?" the deer-like creature asked. "You mean this runt?"
The creature threw Brain Point Chopper to the ground near us.
"What the... Chopper?" Usopp said.
"That's enough, Mama," Arbell said. "You made your point. Put Lil down."
The Chopper lookalike shifted into a human woman. She had long blue hair like Arbell, only her hair wasn't tied up. She had a slender body and large breasts like Nami and Robin. She wore a pair of blue jeans and a low-cut sweater.
"She's changed," Zoro said. "A Devil Fruit."
"Deer-Deer Fruit, Model: Reindeer," she said. "I am Sena Accino, Lil's mother."
"Put the girl down," Robin said.
"No."
"Trés Fleur!" Robin sprouted hands at the woman's neck and grabbed her head. "Put her down!"
Why is she so emotional?
"Antler Spike." Antlers erupted from the woman, destroying Robin's hands.
"Ahh!" Robin fell back in pain.
"Robin!" I went to her side; everyone was in a defensive posture, ready to attack. "No one move! She might hurt Lil."
"Arbell, fetch their flag," the woman commanded.
"Yes, Mother." The woman climbed up and took the flag.
"We will be leaving now," she said. "Hockera, make sure they don't follow us."
"Ice Barrage!" The man dropped a bunch of pucks and fired them at us. One hit Sanji's foot and froze him in a block of ice.
"Sanji!"
"We'll be going now," the woman said.
They hopped off the boat and skated away.
"Why'd you just let them attack us?!" Zoro said.
"I didn't want Lil to get hurt because of us," I said.
Chopper got up off the ground and started treating Sanji and Robin. "That woman... she was so strong! How'd she get on without us knowing? All of a sudden, she was in my office, and I was on the ground!"
"There's nothing that can be done about it now," Sanji said. "What's the plan?"
"They're bounty hunters, and we're pirates," Rose said. "They'll be after us; they took the flag to make sure we don't leave."
"They knew we wouldn't leave without our pride," Usopp said. "But why not just finish us off here?"
"They want to fight in that castle," Wyper said, pointing at the structure in the distance. "This is a hunt. To them, it's like a game."
"They're all set," Chopper said. "Robin and Sanji are all better."
"Our plan is clear," I told them. "We go get our flag and Lil back."
"What do you mean, get Lil?" Nami said.
"That house is an awful place," Robin said. "She cannot stay there."
"It's simple, Lil wants to run," I said. "We're going there to get our flag; we can bust her out while we're there. Lil needs to see a real family, one that will fight for her and show her love. She needs us. She's a nice girl who loves animals. She deserves a chance to see the world outside that prison."
"She studies animals; I like her more and more all the time!" Luffy said. "I bet she can tell me about all sorts of yummy animals."
"Why is it always about food with you?!" Nami groaned.
"Her dream is to be a zoologist," I told him. "She wants to see all the animals in the world."
"I've got it," Luffy said. "If Lil wants to escape this place and see the animals of the world, then we'll just take her with us. We're gonna see the whole Grand Line; she can come with us!"
"WHAT?!"
"She's ten!" Usopp said.
"So? Steve and I were younger than that when we were on our parents' ship," Rose shrugged.
"You're thinking like me, Luffy," I smiled.
"Then let's go to the Ice Castle," Luffy said. "Let's get our flag and our zoologist!"