Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“There’s a festival in the capital tonight, right?” Luffy asked suddenly.

Nami paused, looking away from the wild currents below to glance at her captain. He was leaning against the Sunny’s railing, a thoughtful expression on his face while he stared at the island they had just set sail from. Or in the direction of it at least; the storm around them was so heavy it was hard to see anything through the rain.

After a long moment where she simply regarded Luffy, Nami finally replied, “The Fire Festival is tonight, yes.”

Luffy hummed in response, his brow furrowing slightly, not saying anything else. Nami had to wonder what he was thinking about. It wasn’t unheard of, but it always seemed out of character for Luffy to be this pensive. She wasn’t even sure why he asked her about the festival in the first place; after all, that was the whole point of them being here at sea, fighting against rain, winds and angry, crashing waves. 

Tonight was the one single weak point, the only night of the year when they stood a chance at freeing Wano from the tight grip Kaido and Orochi had on the land. The only night their raid on Onigashima might just succeed.

And it was all because tonight was the night of the Fire Festival.

It was actually quite fitting. According to what Kin’emon had said, the festival was to remember and celebrate the dead. And now, the Scabbards were making it a night of revenge and promises kept, in the name of their dead liege.

Maybe, just maybe… that was what Luffy was thinking about.

Suddenly, Luffy pushed himself away from the railing before he turned away from the island of Wano; looking ahead, towards Onigashima. As he stood there, his arms crossed over his chest, his coat flapping in the strong winds, he didn’t even have to say anything. Even without a word, all the crew’s eyes fell on him, awaiting their captain’s orders.

“Alright, guys! We’re going to kick Kaido’s ass before the festival is over!” Luffy announced after a moment.

“Aye aye, Captain,” everybody called in response, identical, wide grins on their faces. After all, if the captain decided, who were they to disobey?

Luffy, however, wasn’t done yet. “We need to eat all the tasty food they’re having there!”

Nami groaned. Of course it was about food. Why did she even expect anything different? But, even while she shook her head at Luffy’s skewed list of priorities, she couldn’t help the smile that was pulling on her lips. Luffy would always be Luffy.

And the crew wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chapter Text

When he was still living on Dawn Island, Luffy had thought he knew winter. He had shivered in the cold before, got his clothes soaked from snow, he had gotten even his rubber nose almost broken during a snowball fight—thanks Ace—and he had built countless snowmen.

He thought he knew winter.

But East Blue’s winter couldn’t even begin to compare to whatever Punk Hazard had going on. And Luffy couldn’t stop smiling.

He loved this island; first, the fiery side with its molten lava and volcanoes, then the freezing cold with piles upon piles of snow and frozen mountain tops. It was just so cool; Luffy wished they could stay and explore more but Torao and Smokey insisted they leave as soon as possible. There was also the gas but who cares about that. It just wasn’t fair. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t make use of the little time they did have while the party winded down.

Ducking behind the wall of snow before him, Luffy laughed as the snowball missed it’s mark entirely. “You can’t win against me with this aim, Usopp!”

“Who do you think I am?! I am Captain Usopp! You should know better than to mess with me!” Usopp called back from behind his own snowy barrier. “Just wait. Three…”

Finally realizing he was up against his own sniper, Luffy’s eyes darted around, searching for any incoming projectiles.

“Two…”

He saw nothing, but he wasn’t about to stay there, waiting for Usopp’s infamous chain reaction shots to land. He bolted away from his hiding place in the direction of a large rock sitting a little ways to the side—

“Uwa!” he cried at the sudden impact right in his face.

“One! And the Great Captain Usopp scores!” Usopp shouted, arms raised in victory.

“You did it, Usopp!” Chopper joined in, full of excitement. “Your lies are so much better now!”

Usopp puffed up, giving Chopper a disapproving look. “They’re not lies, Chopper. It’s a perfectly calculated strategy to get your opponent to drop their guard! Simple, but extremely effective.”

“That was dirty!” Luffy shouted but Usopp simply shrugged, a smirk on his lips.

Oh, this so wasn’t over.

Luffy quickly gathered a bunch of snow between his hands, packing it into a tight ball—one much bigger than any of the ones he had made before. This was war now. There would be no mercy.

“Gomu gomu no Snowball!!”

Usopp and Chopper screamed, quickly jumping out of the way. The snowball, however, continued in its tracks, flying at high speed and all the way to the party sidelines… hitting Torao square on the side of his head.

Dead silence settled over the area while Law slowly, silently picked up his hat, brushed the snow off, then put it back on. 

Luffy sighed in relief when Torao stood up and started walking away.

“Room.”

There was only a split second before what felt like an entire mountain of snow landed on top of Luffy.