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The other stood as still as an iceberg, pure cold spreading outward from him, freezing even the air into tiny ice crystals wherever it passed.
There was no conversation.
The next instant-
The glacier exploded.
The cracking of ice rang out in succession, fine fractures spreading beneath their feet.
Chopper lay on his back on the deck, his chest rising and falling, his white breath quickly dispersing in the wind.
He turned his head, looking over the railing toward the pale expanse of sea in the distance. "Teacher... he'll be all right, won't he?"
His voice was very soft, as though he were asking himself.
Sanji did not answer immediately.
The cigarette between his fingers had burned to its end, its pale gray ash easily swept away by the sea breeze.
On the other side, Robin stood in the shadows with her arms folded, her eyes lowered as though she meant to stare straight through the grain of the deck.
Sanji finally stubbed out his cigarette, deliberately keeping his tone steady. "That's our teacher we're talking about."
He paused. "Anyone in this world who could make him frown probably hasn't been born yet."
His words did not entirely dispel the tension in the air.
Kuzan's name was like a block of ice that had sunk underwater. Even unspoken, its chill continued to seep through.
Sanji glanced at Robin's rigid back and swallowed the rest of his questions.
Facing the highest peak of the Marines, even rock-solid trust could not keep a shadow of uncertainty from flitting through their hearts.
In stark contrast to the grave speculation aboard the ship, the atmosphere on the distant ice field was almost strangely relaxed.
Kuzan watched the familiar yet unfamiliar figure opposite him-he looked like Luffy, but his movements carried a rhythm