NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 27: Arctic
The Clown Pirates continue their way to North Pole. Temperature keep dropping as they get closer to their destination. Ice blocks also keep increasing on the water as they go further.
It geting harder to find the route between the ice chunks. The ice chunks make the route looks like a maze made of ice. They even need to break some ices that block their way. Luckily, their newly purchased clothes can keep them warm and safe.
It takes some hours for them to finally reach the land. Altough it's not clear wether it's actually land or just a very very thick & wide ice block. They drop the anchor and prepare to explore the Arctic.
"What is that, Captain?"-Mantis see Buggy carry a box
"Hehehe, this is the reason why i came here."-Buggy
Buggy open the box and inside it, is a thermometer, papers, pen and camera.
"What are those things for?"-Cricket
"These are tools for measuring the temperature on North Pole. I will measure temperatures on many spots and note them all to find the lowest temperature. The camera is for capturing picture of every measurment as a proof."-Buggy grin
"Why did you need to do that?"-Mantis
"So i can proof to Shanks that the North Pole is colder than South Pole, HAHAHA."-Buggy
"Who's Shanks?"-Cricket
"My fellow apprentice on Roger Pirates."-Buggy
"Oh. ..... WAIT! ROGER PIRATES?"-Mantis "WHAT?! ROGER PIRATES? THE PIRATE KING'S CREW?"-Cricket
"Yeah, haven't i told you?"-Buggy
""NO.""-Cricket & Mantis
"Well, sorry about that, it's not really a big deal anyway."-Buggy
""IT'S A BIG DEAL!""-Cricket & Mantis
"Huh? What's the big deal? I'm just an apprentice there, not an officer."-Buggy
"It's a big deal, Captain. You're still the crew member of the legendary Pirate King you know. The first crew that have conquered Grandline."-Mantis
"Then that means you've went to that last island, Laugh Tale right?"-Cricket
"You need to tell us the story!"-Mantis
Cricket & Mantis get very excited and lean to Buggy, make him take a step back.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! I know you guys are excited, but we can't talk about the story of my apprentice life in here."-Buggy
"Fine, but you need to tell us later!"-Mantis
"Alright, alright."-Buggy
The Clown Pirates leave the topic about Buggy's apprenticeship and start their exploration. They get off the ship and walk on the land of ice & snow. There's no road or any building here, just ice and snow.
Because there isn't any building here, they need to bring their own building, aka tent. They put their camping tools and supplies on a sled. Then they pull the slide, Cricket pull the slide.
"We should have bought or caught a reindeer on Whiteland to pull this sled."-Cricket
"We forgot about that, so there's no choice now. Let's see if we can find any animal that can pull our sled later."-Buggy
"You want to catch wild animal?"-Mantis
"Yeah, if we can tame it, we can make it pull our sled."-Buggy
"How will you tame it?"-Mantis
"Beat them up."-Buggy
".... I shouldn't asked."-Mantis
The Clowns continue their journey in the Arctic. Buggy keep measuring the temperature and go toward the colder area. Mantis is taking pictures of the temperature, while Cricket is pulling the sled.
They walk around for sometime until the sky almost turn dark. They set up their camp and cooking tools to cook their dinner. Mantis then cook a pot of soup to warm their body.
"Captain, tell us about your story, please!"-Mantis
"Yeah, this is a good time."-Cricket
"Alright, alright. Well, it's not that interesting anyway."-Buggy
Buggy then start to narrate his short story as an apprentice to them. But he just tell them about what he did in the crew, and didn't tell them anything about the journey. He doesn't want to make their own journey boring because they've heard about Roger Pirates' journey.
"So now this Shanks made his own crew?"-Cricket
"Yeah, he asked me to join him on Captain's execution day, but i want to build my own crew."-Buggy
"So this whole journey to North Pole is to prove that your opinion is correct? It's all because of your argument with your brother in arms?"-Mantis
"That's right, i will prove to that Red Hair that i am right, hahahaha."-Buggy
"Then, will you go to South Pole too, so you can measure the temperature there?"-Cricket
"Of course. My goal is to explore the blues before going to Grandline. Because once you step a foot on Grandline, the blues won't look so interesting anymore."-Buggy
"Will Shanks also investigate the North & South Pole with his crew though?"-Mantis
"I don't know, and i don't care. We have our own adventure and they have their own. We just need to enjoy our adventure, because it is our life."-Buggy
"Hmm, you're right."-Mantis smile
The soup is cooked while they talk, so they eat the warm soup immediately, and then go to sleep. They just sleep in the same tent and each of them use a thick sleeping bag to keep them warm. Mantis is in the middle because it's the warmest position.
The next day, they continue their exploration after packing up their camp and eat their breakfast. They walk while measuring the temperature. Then they find a valley and go there because it looks interesting.
However, when they walk around the valley, they suddenly got surrounded by a pack of Arctic Wolves. These wolves seem to think of them as preys, and try to hunt them. Cricket take out his pistols, but Buggy tell him to not shoot.
"Why'd you stop me, Captain?"-Cricket
"Don't you want some pets to pull our sled now?"-Buggu grin
"Ah, so that's how it is."-Cricket also grin
The wolves suddenly shiver when they see the Clown's creepy expression. But they're wild beasts, so they don't care about it and will still hunt them. The wolves then start to attack the Clowns together.
There are around 15 wolves in the pack, with the alpha stay at the rear. The Clowns get ready and start to attack the wolves too. Their movements are being hindered by the snow and low temperature, so they can't move that well.
A wolf attack Cricket, and he try to punch, but his punch is slow. The wolf dodge the punch and jump to bite Cricket's body. Cricket move aside at the right time to dodge the bite.
"Damn, that's close."-Cricket
"Don't attack when they're still far, wait until they're close enough for you to grab them! They're used to this terrain and very fast & agile too."-Buggy
"Alright."-Cricket
Cricket try what Buggy advised and wait until the wolves get very close. When it happen, he grab the wolf's body and throw it to the ground. He succeed and start to do it on another attackers.
Mantis is also facing some wolves, and she have better result than Cricket. She use her thick steel laddle and use it like a bat. She swing it around to hit the wolves. She can move fairly well in the low temperature, so she can match the wolves movements and beat them up.
Buggy also have a good result. He use his devil fruit to levitate his detached hands and control them to fly around hitting the wolves. His levitation ability isn't hindered by the low temperature at all.
After sometime, they finally defeat the wolves, easily. They also feel themselves warmed up after such exercise. Buggy also have defeated the alpha, and that's enough to make the wolves submissive.
"Alright, you guys are our pets now, so you need to pull our sled."-Buggy
"Grrrr!"-Alpha wolf seem to be unwilling
"Huh? You want to get a punch or two again?"-Buggy
The wolves immediately shake their heads, even the alpha is shivering.
"Don't worry, you guys will have good experience with us."-Buggy
The wolves didn't have any choice now, so they agree. Now, the Clowns didn't need to pull their sleds and just sit on their sled. They can save energy and move faster on the ice & snowy ground now.
The Arctic is very big, so having these wolves to pull their sled is really helpfull. Now they don't have to worry about the snow & ice and just need to worry about the cold. But they just didn't know, that the Arctic's temperature isn't the only thing that they need to be worry of.
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I've upload Chapter 47 there today. /CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)