The feeling Ace had toward Luffy was mutual.
Although this was the first time Luffy had met Ace, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
They had only met briefly, but Luffy had a feeling that they would meet again.
Right now, the most important thing was to keep climbing!
They had finally managed to climb a good distance, only to fall back down because of the avalanche. Now they had to start all over again.
"But... Luffy, that avalanche didn't look natural."
They had not been climbing for long when Usopp suddenly spoke.
"Huh?" Luffy asked, confused.
Usopp stopped where he was and released his spiritual sensing ability. Through it, he sensed several living beings above them. They were not human.
Usopp told the other two what he had sensed, then added, "We had barely started climbing before an avalanche happened. What are the odds of that? Something up there must be causing it!"
"Could it be the Ice Witch?!" Luffy's eyes lit up. If it really was the Ice Witch, wouldn't they have found the ultimate secret of this island right away?
"The Ice Witch!" Sanji grew excited too. "She must be an Iceburg beauty!"
"That's enough, you two." Usopp said helplessly. "How could it possibly be the Ice Witch? So many powerful people have come here over the years and failed to find her. There's no way she'd just show up out of nowhere."
"Whatever! Let's go take a look!" Luffy did not care about any of that. He had always been the kind of person who acted on whatever he decided. Once he made up his mind, he had to see it through.
His climbing speed suddenly doubled. Sanji started running as well, apparently eager to meet the Ice Witch.
Usopp reached out after them, the corner of his mouth twitching. He had only mentioned the unknown creatures above to warn them to be careful. Instead, the two of them had become even more reckless.
Seeing this, Usopp could only follow. "Hey! Slow down! You muscle-brained idiots, remember that I'm here too!"
Because an avalanche had already happened once, there was much less snow on the mountain path this time. Once the three of them started moving, they no longer felt as cold as before. On top of that, they had doubled their pace, so they soon reached a point higher than where they had stopped during their first climb.
At that distance, they finally spotted the creatures Usopp had sensed.
"You mean... those rabbits?"
Luffy stared at the snow rabbits racing up the mountain and spoke with a helpless look on his face.
"Seriously? The Ice Witch is a rabbit?"
"You're the only one who thought I was talking about the Ice Witch!" Usopp shouted angrily.
Indeed, those rabbits had probably caused the earlier avalanche. They were running so quickly that they sent huge amounts of snow and ice flying. If an avalanche had not already happened and left so little snow behind, all that movement might easily have triggered another one.
Luffy quickly caught up with one of the rabbits and reached out to pick it up. But the rabbit suddenly turned around and stared at him with a pair of bright red eyes.
"Who are you people?!"
A deep, steady male voice came from the rabbit's mouth.
"T-The rabbit talked!" Luffy cried, stumbling several steps backward.
The voice attracted Usopp and Sanji's attention, and they hurried over.
"What happened?" Sanji asked.
"The rabbit just talked!" Luffy said quickly.
"Hm? A talking rabbit?"
Sanji rubbed his chin while staring at the rabbit in front of them.
"I'm asking you a question! Who are you people? Why are you climbing the mountain?" The rabbit spoke human words again.
Sanji could not help marveling. "I've heard of animals that can talk, but I've never heard of a talking rabbit."
The rabbit seemed to be getting impatient. It jumped backward twice, and then a large number of snow rabbits appeared around them, surrounding the three men.
Some of the rabbits were mutated. In particular, they were enormous—almost as big as bears.
"We're travelers from outside," Usopp said quickly. "We came here to find a doctor. We mean you no harm!"
"A doctor?" The first rabbit sounded surprised. Then it asked, "You're not with that little dragon, are you?"
"L-Little dragon?" Luffy asked. "What's that?"
The rabbits relaxed.
"Never mind. Since you're looking for a doctor, go on up. The doctor should still be there at this hour. You picked a good time to come."
The three of them were completely baffled. They had no idea what the rabbits were doing. One moment they were surrounding them, and the next they were letting them go.
Luffy was about to ask what the rabbit meant by "little dragon," but Usopp grabbed him and pulled him away.
Sanji had thought the rabbits might be worth eating, but after taking a closer look, he decided they were only unusually large and did not seem to be anything special. He gave up on the idea.
What they did not know was that the "little dragon" they had mentioned had already reached the outskirts of the village at the foot of the mountain.
Little Demon Dragon stood outside the village and breathed out. A stream of fire shot from his mouth, melting the snow in front of him. The sudden rise in temperature caught Zoro's attention inside the village.
Zoro immediately grabbed the hilt of his sword. He glanced at Sister Ruku and saw that she seemed not to have noticed anything. She was simply counting the food Nami had brought and handing it out to the people in the village.
"What is it?" Nami noticed Zoro's movement and asked.
"Someone's here. I'm going outside for a moment."
Zoro had been sitting on the ground, but now he stood and walked outside.
Nami frowned. Someone had arrived?
"Nami, should we go take a look?" Ben asked quietly.
"I'll go with Zoro. You stay here and protect the villagers," Nami replied in a low voice.
Nami's fighting style was fairly destructive. Changes in the weather created wide-area attacks, and if she fought inside the village, the villagers might get caught in the damage. It was better to leave the job of protecting them to Ben, who could adapt to all kinds of battlefields.
Ben was disappointed, but he stayed where he was. Nami quickly ran outside.
"What happened? Why did Nami and Zoro suddenly leave?" Agni asked, walking over and looking at Ben in confusion.
Ben explained, "They said they were going to look around nearby. The doctor might be somewhere in the area."
The villagers usually gathered in front of the church because there was a bonfire there that gave everyone some warmth.
The Cross Church had clearly grown for good reason. Even with so many powerful organizations keeping it under control, the church still sincerely guided people toward kindness and provided a great deal of help to poor people around the world.
Every year, the Cross Church provided the Drum Kingdom with supplies and manpower. Without that help, it was hard to imagine how many more people would die in a world where the temperature could fall to seventy degrees below zero.
No one paid much attention to Nami and Zoro leaving. They were not villagers to begin with, so who were they to question whether the two wanted to leave?
Ben looked toward the direction they had gone. Once he could no longer see Zoro or Nami, he calmed down.
Whatever happened, with Nami and Zoro there...
There probably would not be any major trouble.
.........
Zoro moved quickly. Because Ace had been watching from the shadows earlier, Zoro had already suspected that someone was spying nearby. He had therefore kept his Observation Haki spread out the entire time.
Just now, he had sensed someone approaching the village, and that person was making no effort to hide their hostility.
Zoro immediately moved into action. But the closer he got, the more certain he became that the newcomer was not the same person who had been watching him earlier.
The gaze from before had carried a hint of caution, but the presence in front of him was completely different. It was violent, evil, and filled with darkness. It was almost like the presence of a demon—just like Muzan Kibutsuji's.
Observation Haki could sense a person's presence, but describing exactly what that presence felt like was difficult. A demon's presence, however, carried such a strong sense of evil that it was impossible to miss.
Zoro had never encountered a true demon before. The ghosts he had seen in the East Blue could only be called half-demon monsters, but even their presence had been deeply evil. The aura he sensed now was far more sinister than those ghosts'—just like Muzan Kibutsuji's!
Zoro stopped and gripped the swords at his waist with both hands. At that moment, the source of the evil presence appeared ahead of him.
A monster with green skin, resembling a giant lizard standing upright, stood in the distance.
The creature was neither tall nor bulky. Two horns jutted from its head, which was completely hairless. Its irises were blood red, while its sclera were white. It wore a deep black coat and a dark red belt, with a bracelet-like object on each wrist.
"The dark energy is pointing me in this direction."
After appearing, he spoke to himself. "What? Is some pointless warrior of justice trying to stop me?"
Clearly, he had noticed Zoro ahead of him as well.
"I don't know what you're planning, but just smelling your presence is making me sick," Zoro said quietly as he drew all three swords. "This place keeps getting more interesting. Besides the Ice Witch, this country is full of things I've never heard of."
The mysterious Sister Ruku, the unknown watcher from earlier, and now a demon.
Was there something magical about this place?
"The Ice Witch?" Little Demon Dragon looked startled when he heard that. Soon, however, he laughed. "You humans really are interesting. But I suppose that makes sense. After all, hypocritical humans can never accept their own mistakes!"
He clearly dismissed Zoro's words. In the next moment, flames burst from his mouth. The roaring fire melted the snow and ice ahead of him, raising the surrounding temperature by several degrees.
"Fire Cutter!"
Zoro had been watching Little Demon Dragon's movements from the start, so he was ready the moment the flames appeared. When the fire rushed toward him, he slashed through it, cutting it in half. The flames blasted past both sides of his body, leaving two long scorch marks across the snow and ice.
"Do you see that? Your so-called order is like this frozen world of snow. The moment something that does not belong within that order gets mixed in, the whole thing melts!" Little Demon Dragon laughed loudly as he charged forward and punched.
He was incredibly fast—far faster than Zoro had expected. Zoro had assumed the giant lizard was only capable of breathing fire. He had not expected him to be so skilled in hand-to-hand combat.
Zoro dodged quickly, but he was still a little too slow. Little Demon Dragon's fist struck him and sent him flying several meters backward.
Little Demon Dragon closed the distance again. This time, Zoro was ready, and the two began an intense close-quarters battle.
But after only a few seconds, Little Demon Dragon's speed and strength suddenly doubled. He threw a punch that slipped past Zoro's blade and slammed into his chest.
"What? Is that all you can do? I have to say, that's disappointing."
Zoro was sent flying more than ten meters and crashed heavily into the snow. Little Demon Dragon walked toward him, looking bored.
"I thought you were here to search for the Eternal Flame too. Now I see you're nothing but a stupid fool."
"The Eternal Flame?"
Zoro got back to his feet and sent a slash through the air. Little Demon Dragon threw a fireball from his hand, canceling out the attack.
"A flame that never goes out. I think it contains part of my father's power. Only my father can possess the power of the Eternal Flame." Little Demon Dragon grinned. "Once I obtain it, I'll be one step closer to bringing my father back into this world! This world will belong to demons!"
"Is your father just a bigger lizard?" Zoro mocked him as he raised all three swords again.
Little Demon Dragon was strong. He had clearly not been using his full power in their earlier exchange. He had only been playing with Zoro.
If that was the case, Zoro had to take advantage of his carelessness and defeat him!
Zoro steadied his breathing and prepared to use Nine-Headed Dragon Flash. He planned to strike the giant lizard with his strongest attack in one sudden move. The insult had only been meant to anger his opponent and make him reveal an opening.
Sure enough, Little Demon Dragon seemed to become furious when he heard Zoro's words. He opened his mouth, and flames began gathering inside.
This fire was far hotter and much larger than the flames he had used before!
Boom!
Zoro was about to use Nine-Headed Dragon Flash, but suddenly he felt his body become much lighter, as if...
A strange force had suddenly strengthened his body. He could feel that if he swung his swords now, both his strength and speed would be far greater than before!
What...
What was happening?
Zoro was confused, but he was in the middle of a battle and had no time to think about it. Because he had lost focus for a moment, he had missed his chance to use Nine-Headed Dragon Flash.
But now that his speed and strength had greatly increased, he no longer needed it.
"Three-Sword Style: Purgatory Demon Slash!"
----
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