Chapter 95: Bare-handed Climbing! The Witch's Castle atop the Snowy Peaks
The snowy plains after the avalanche returned to a suffocating silence.
Only the cold wind whipped up the snow foam on the ground, letting out a wailing moan.
"Puh-ha!!"
A hand suddenly burst through the thick snow, followed by Luffy's head, wearing his Straw Hat, popping out.
He gasped heavily for air, his face frozen bright red.
Not far away, another snowdrift was pushed open.
Tatsuya crawled out with difficulty, holding Nami tightly in his arms to protect her.
his black overcoat had become soaking wet, and his face was as pale as paper.
That 'Great Fire Destruction' he used against the avalanche just now had almost completely drained his Chakra.
He immediately looked down at Nami in his arms.
Fortunately, because he used his body as a shield at the last moment, Nami didn't suffer any impact.
Her face was still flushed from the high fever, and although her breathing was rapid, it was relatively steady.
"Whew... still alive."
Tatsuya breathed a sigh of relief, the feeling of exhaustion almost making him collapse to the ground.
"Hee hee hee! We survived!"
Luffy, nearby, cleared the snow from his Straw Hat and put it on his head with a grin, then looked around but didn't see Sanji.
"Sanji!! Where are you!!"
Ignoring the cold, he frantically dug through the snow in all directions like a marmot.
Finally, he fished Sanji out from beside a half-buried tree.
"Clay!!" Tatsuya also shouted in a raspy voice.
"Puh!"
A pointed bird beak first popped out of a distant snowdrift, and then Clay's jet-black figure crawled out in a disheveled state.
It shook its body frantically, scattering snowflakes everywhere:
"Caw caw!! Your lord is over here! I almost got frozen into a popsicle! Caw!"
However, a terrified cry came from Luffy's side:
"Sanji!! Wake up!! Hey!!"
Luffy shook Sanji's body, but finding no response, tears immediately shot out of his eyes: "Tatsuya!! Sanji's dead!! He's not moving!!"
"Don't talk nonsense!"
Tatsuya forced himself to move over, channeling the last trace of Chakra in his body and placing his fingers on Sanji's neck to check.
"How could he die just like that..."
Tatsuya sensed for a moment, his brow furrowed:
"His spine took a heavy blow... When the avalanche hit just now, this guy used his body to tank the falling rocks. He's unconscious from the intense pain and impact."
Luffy wept with joy and immediately hugged Sanji's body. "That's great!"
The situation was dire.
Nami's fever wouldn't break, and Sanji was seriously injured and unconscious.
Only Luffy and an exhausted Tatsuya remained.
Worse still, the winding road that originally led to the summit had been completely destroyed by the avalanche.
Now, looming before them was only that vertically standing, cylindrical stone peak thousands of meters high—Drum Mountain.
It was the only path.
"We have to climb up!"
Luffy didn't hesitate for a second.
He tied the unconscious Sanji tightly to his back with a rope, staring at the towering peak with gritted teeth:
"I have to save them!!"
"Climb up, huh..."
Tatsuya put Nami on his back, securing her with a scarf.
He tried to refine Chakra, wanting to use the Ninja method to stick to the rock wall, but his body was already empty.
"Heh..."
Tatsuya looked at the desperate height, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of his mouth:
"It seems... I can only use the most primitive method."
There was no way back.
"Let's go!!"
Luffy let out a roar, no longer caring about the cold, and rushed at the rock wall using both hands and feet.
He had no claws, so he could only force his fingers into the crevices of the cold, hard rock.
Tatsuya followed close behind.
Although he didn't have the freakish constitution of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, nor the boost from Chakra.
He relied on his well-honed Ninja Taijutsu and iron-like willpower, gripping the rock crevices with his fingers and climbing upward step by step.
Meanwhile, Clay flapped its wings below, occasionally serving as a support point to assist Tatsuya.
And behind the shadows of the forest below.
A small reindeer with a blue nose was hiding there, silently looking up.
He watched those two black dots, as tiny as ants in the heavy snow yet moving upward bit by bit, his eyes full of shock.
...
Halfway up the mountain.
The wind-force winds slashed like knives, and the temperature had dropped to dozens of degrees below zero.
Luffy and Tatsuya's hands and feet had long since lost all sensation, moving entirely on instinct.
"Whoosh——!!"
Suddenly, a violent crosswind struck without warning.
Luffy's foot slipped as the rock he was stepping on crumbled.
"Ah!!"
Luffy lost his balance and fell backward, seemingly about to plunge into the bottomless abyss.
"Swish!!"
At the critical moment, a hand turned purple from the cold firmly grabbed Luffy's ankle.
Tatsuya gripped a rock crevice with one hand, his fingernails cracking and blood dripping.
His other hand supported the weight of both Luffy and Sanji, his whole body stretched like a taut bow.
"Caw!!"
Clay also flew up desperately, biting Luffy's collar hard with its beak, flapping its wings with all its might to help share a bit of the weight.
"Huff... huff..."
Veins bulged on Tatsuya's forehead as he gasped for air, his roar reflecting his physical limits:
"Hold on... Captain!!"
"We're almost there! Don't... fall now!!"
Hanging upside down in the air, Luffy looked at Tatsuya's purple hand above him, and his eyes grew hot.
He used his core strength to swing back and grabbed the rock wall again.
"Yeah!! I definitely won't!!"
...
After several hours of hellish climbing.
When the sun set and night fell.
Two blood-covered hands finally gripped the top edge of Drum Mountain.
Luffy was covered in blood, his fingernails torn back.
Tatsuya had also reached the limit of his willpower, hanging on by a single breath.
The two of them rolled over the rocks and collapsed onto the snow in front of the castle.
Their vision was already blurred.
Before losing consciousness completely, they saw a strange blue-nosed creature (Chopper) and a white-haired old woman wearing stylish punk clothes and holding Plum wine (Dr. Kureha), standing at the castle entrance watching them.
"Save..."
Luffy and Tatsuya collapsed in the snow at the same time, their mouths still murmuring their only obsession:
"Save... my companions..."
"Caw-aaaa!!"
Clay, having flown up, was also exhausted to the point of collapse.
It wept bitterly, falling to the ground in front of the two and repeatedly banging its head against the snow:
"Caw caw! I beg you!! Please save these lords!!"
Dr. Kureha raised an eyebrow, looking at the wounded scattered across the ground and the kowtowing Crow.
"Oh? A talking Crow?"
She folded her arms, her face showing surprise and a hint of a playful smile:
"This is a rare guest indeed."
Beside her, little Chopper's eyes widened even more, and he hid behind Kureha.
...
An unknown amount of time passed.
Warmth.
That was the first sensation Nami felt upon regaining consciousness.
She slowly opened her eyes and found herself lying on a large, soft bed, with the fire in the fireplace lighting up the room.
"Are you awake?"
Nami turned her head and saw a small reindeer that walked on two legs and had a blue nose, peeking at her from behind the doorframe.
However... this guy was hiding completely backward.
He had his body exposed and his face hidden behind the door, thinking that others wouldn't be able to see him that way.
Nami blinked and spoke weakly:
"Is that... a Tanuki?"
"Bastard!!!"
Hearing those words, Chopper's fur immediately stood on end. He jumped out from behind the door, waving his hooves and shouting:
"I'm a reindeer!! I'm not a Tanuki!!"
"Eh?!" Nami covered her mouth in surprise, "It can talk?!"
Just then, the scent of wine wafted in.
"Seems like you're in good spirits, young lady."
The door was pushed open.
The 130-plus-year-old 'Witch' with a hot figure wearing a midriff-baring top—Dr. Kureha—walked in with a bottle of Plum wine, her gait arrogant and unbothered.
She walked to the bedside, looked down at Nami, and adjusted her sunglasses:
"Want to know who I am? Want to know the secret to my youth?"
"No... I don't..." Nami shook her head instinctively.
"Since you're awake, let's talk about the medical fees."
Kureha grinned, a smile that made even a money-grubber like Nami feel a chill down her spine:
"Also..."
Kureha pointed to the room next door, her tone becoming slightly softer:
"Those two men who carried you and climbed this snowy mountain bare-handed... are still sleeping like dead pigs."
"What a bunch of reckless fools."
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