A Dragon's Priorities (A SaboxKoala story)

Part 18: Land of Blazing Winter

"I dunno Luffy, I really wouldn't trust him." Usopp had more suspicions on Doflamingo than any of the Straw Hats. Sabo and Luffy's decision to free the Heavenly Yaksha from his cell was reckless, but it was the only hope present to save Koala.

Nami was estimating the trip to Punk Hazard. Franky had just stocked up on a LOT of cola, so Coup-de-Bursting to the island was an option, but not yet confirmed. Franky had been calculating the amount of cola the ship currently had, and paired it with how far Coup de Burst would take them, as well as how far Punk Hazard was from their current location.

"Usopp, I know that Doflamingo has reason to turn tail on us, but he himself admitted that PR-18 is bad. Hell, he's been infected with it once." Sabo had to convince Usopp to trust Doflamingo.

"Fine, but on 2 conditions."

"Well, let's hear them." Doflamingo just wanted those damn seastone cuffs off of him. He got free once, and they went and locked them on him again.

"First, those cuffs stay on you until you've filled your end of the deal, and second, you do NOT come near us after you've been freed."

"Whatever."

At that moment, Franky and Nami burst through the doors and gave news to the crew, with Doflamingo just being absorbed in his newspaper.

"We calculated the journey time. It's possible to Coup-de-Burst to Punk Hazard continuously, but even if we do that, Koala's going to have less than 24 hours left." Nami broke the news to the crew, with Sabo being grateful that Koala could still have a chance to live. But this was going to be a damn tight stretch.

Chopper came waddling out of the sick bay, and updated everyone of Koala's condition.

"I looked over on Koala. She's awake now, but her ankles down are paralyzed. I'm expecting respiratory trouble to come in about the next 10 hours."

Doflamingo turned to Chopper and started clicking his tongue in disappointment, which was surprising to everyone considering he kept his tongue in his mouth the entire time.

"She's been poisoned since yesterday morning, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Doflamingo gave out a loud cackle. "If she was poisoned yesterday morning, respiratory trouble is going to come a lot sooner than 10 hours. No more than 3 hours, I'll bet anything." Following this, he was promptly knocked out by a well-placed Gomu Gomu no Pistol.

"Am I clear to go visit her?" Sabo asked Chopper, showing immediate concern as to how the poison was spreading so quickly. Chopper cleared him and he walked into the sick bay, shutting the door behind him and taking a seat next to Koala.

"Hey." He gently nudged Koala to wake her up. After a few tries, her eyelids fluttered open.

"How you feeling?"

"Not amazing..." Even before the respiratory issues were due, her voice was already soft. Sabo and Koala both saw the irony in the situation. Not only had Koala saved his life less than a week prior, but now he was saving her life. Well, not really. The best he was doing right now was finding the antidote to PR-18.

"Chopper filled me in. Taking Doflamingo from Impel Down was a bad idea."

"It's your only hope. Even if we reach Punk Hazard in time, you'll have less than 24 hours left." Sabo couldn't stop a tear welling up in his eye after saying that. Koala noticed it and reached for his face slowly, rubbing the tear off his eye.

"It's okay. I'll hold out."

Sabo smiled, lifted Koala's hand and kissed it, restraining the blush.

"I know you can."

There was a silence for some time, when Sabo remembered what she had said before passing out.

"Back on Finder's Sound... What were you saying before you were knocked out-"

As he said this, Koala started coughing violently, and Sabo almost immediately noticed that she wasn't just coughing due to the poison, but she was also coughing blood.

"Dammit! CHOPPER!"

Chopper burst through the door of the sick bay and analyzed the situation. He told Sabo to leave, as he needed to start surgery. Sabo was rushed out, and explained the situation to the others. Doflamingo, who had now woken up, realized that no ordinary PR-18 poison would advance this quickly.

"She's coughing blood this early on? With PR-18, it's not possible unless it was mixed with another poison, in which case she has less time left than we thought."

"Should I use Coup-De-Burst to get to Punk Hazard?" Franky was eager to see how it would work if the Sunny were to continuously use Coup-de-Burst to get to Punk Hazard.

"Don't, Chopper's performing surgery on Koala right now."

"No, it's okay." Sabo turned around in shock to find Chopper standing behind him, with no blood whatsoever on his hands. "She was coughing blood because the poison was mixed with a stimulant. We need to  get to Punk Hazard as fast as possible." He took a look at Luffy, who nodded at Franky.

Sabo had never been on a Coup-De-Burst before, much less a joyride, but he made it through about 3 before slamming his head against a wall and blacking out. When he stirred from that forced slumber and a splitting headache, he was met with the sight of an island. One side had more snow falling than a blizzard could make in one year straight, and the other glowed orange, almost like Sabo's power.

"So, this is Punk Hazard." Sabo guessed.

"Yeah, and you've been out for the last 2 days. That was quite a crack you had on the head." Zoro pointed out.

"2 DAYS?!" Sabo rushed for something to eat, with speed that would astonish Kizaru. After about an hour, he was up and ready for battle.

"Doflamingo... do lead the way."

"Of course." He sounded calm saying it, but Sabo knew something was wrong, for he could swear he saw a tear run down his face.

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