Yes! Another chapter is out! Took me a while, but I managed to get it done! Now to answer reviews:

Alpenwolf: Yes, the mystery of the violet-eyed siblings commences! As for anyone recognizing Myka on Drum Island, well, that is a mystery to be solved in the next few chapters.

Niotalapsi: Nothing wrong with being optimistic. And I'm sorry to hear about your brother.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Terra is my OC.

Chapter 25

"You have got to be kidding me . . ." muttered Terra as she looked at the item in her hands.

"Hey, consider yourself lucky that the wind blew it back onto the ship before we left that island," said Usopp. Lucky wouldn't be the word Terra would use. After all, she wasn't really a big fan of this thing anyway.

"Sorry Terra, but Nami said for you to wear this once we reached the island. With everyone recognizing you as Myka lately, it might be best if you hide your face while we're here. Besides, your coat doesn't have a hood," explained Vivi, who sensed Terra's dislike for the fabric in her hands.

Terra still couldn't believe that the same feathered cloak from Roguetown had found its way back onto the ship. By the time they had met Crocus, Nami had forgotten about making Terra wear the cloak while at port, but after Ms. All Sunday calling her out and the fact that this island might have more people than Little Garden did, Nami and the rest of the crew had agreed that Terra should go back to hiding her face until more of her memories came back to her on their own.

She finally consented to wear the thing, but only because if she didn't, then she would be stuck on the ship. Terra didn't like to stay in one place for a long period of time and she wanted to go around and ask if anyone on the island knew where her brother was. That was the only reason why she donned the molting cloak once again. Even if it did make her look like a molting bird.

At least with how cold it was outside, she wouldn't have to worry about overheating.

Meanwhile, Luffy sat on the sheep's head, excited about all of the snow he was seeing . . . while only wearing his shorts, vest, and flip-flops. Terra could only stare at him incredulously from under her hood. Wasn't he freezing? She was pretty sure that being a rubber man didn't stop you from freezing to death.

"Aren't you cold at all, Luffy?" asked Usopp, who noticed the same thing. Luffy looked at him confused for a second. Then he started to shiver violently.

"It's so cold!" he said.

"You just realized that!" exclaimed both Usopp and Sanji. Terra gave an exasperated sigh. Again, there was no logical explanation for everyone on the crew. Though, it was mostly Luffy who didn't make the most logical sense. It was best not to think too much about these things, unless she wanted a headache.

They sailed into a bay area, the cliffs covered with trees.

"We can't go any further," said Vivi, "I think we better stop here." Zoro turned to everyone.

"Who will look for a doctor? Well, first of all, just look for people?" he asked.

Terra, Luffy (now appropriately dressed for the weather), and Sanji all raised their hands.

"We will," said Terra. However, before they could put their plan into action, they were suddenly surrounded by people on the cliffs.

"Stop right there, pirates," said one of them. Terra looked around at the crowd before turning back to Zoro.

"Well, we found the people," she said. Zoro rolled his eyes at her. Now was hardly the time to be a smartass.

"But they don't look friendly," said Usopp, who was eyeing all the guns the people were carrying.

"Get off of this island," said one man, Terra guessed him to be the leader, "You're not welcome here."

"We are looking for a doctor," said Luffy.

"We have a sick person on board," explained Vivi.

"That trick won't work on us, you evil pirates!"

"This is our village, and we won't let you in!"

"Just get out, otherwise we will shoot you!" Wow, these people were paranoid . . . then again, they were pirates. Even if they didn't act like the typical pirates these people had most likely seen. The paranoia was probably justified.

"They just met us, but they act like they've hated us for 100 years," commented Sanji. And that comment, had it not been for his reflexes, had almost cost him one of his feet. He immediately glared up at the man who shot at him.

"Are you trying to mess with us?" he asked. The man grew nervous and cocked his gun. Sanji took a step forward, wanting to start fighting, but Vivi blocked his path, trying to stop him from causing trouble.

Terra, on the other hand, tensed up as she saw that the gun was now pointed at both Vivi and Sanji. He was going to shoot. That was a fact. Without thinking, she ran over and, placing her hand on Vivi's shoulders, shoved the both of them to the side.

BANG!

"TERRA! VIVI! SANJI!" shouted Luffy when he saw the two fall and Terra standing near the bullet's path. Vivi and Sanji looked over to see Terra standing where they were, her arm still outstretched.

Drip.

"How dare you?" Luffy and the others prepared to attack the villagers for opening fire on his crew when Vivi, once again, jumped in the way.

"Wait! Don't fight them!" she ordered. Luffy still looked mad.

"Luffy!" said Terra, gaining her captain's attention. Her arm was by her side now. Her hood was still shadowing her face, stopping people from reading her expressions.

Drip.

"I'm okay. The bullet missed us. No need to start a fight now," said Terra.

Drip.

Okay, that wasn't exactly true. The cut where the bullet grazed her forearm stung like a bitch, but complaining about it and starting a fight wasn't going to get Nami a doctor. So to keep everyone calm, she lied about the graze on her arm.

Drip.

Too bad for her that Luffy could see the small puddle of blood that was forming next to her, under the spot where her arm hung by her side. But, instead of rampaging about it, he calmly apologized and asked that they bring a doctor. There was no need for them to go into the village if the doctor was brought to them.

It was silent for a long while. Terra was starting to think that they were going to be denied again when the leader said, "I will show you the way to our village. Just follow us." She gave a sigh of relief. Now all she needed to do was find something to wrap around this cut and she was good to go.

"But let me tell you something, we have only one doctor on this island, and she is a witch!"

Wait, what?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

They were now all at Dalton's, the guardian of the village, house. Terra had discreetly wrapped her arm with some cloth she found lying around (she was sure that Dalton wasn't going to miss it). She made sure to do so without revealing her face because she didn't want to cause trouble should there be anyone who recognized her as the Freelancer again.

Nami was in bed and her temperature was now at 42 degrees Celsius. She was really going to die at this rate. This led to them asking Dalton about the witch he mentioned earlier.

"Did you see the mountain outside the window?" asked Dalton.

"You mean that high mountain, right?" asked Sanji as he looked out the window . . . just to see the poorly sculpted face of a snowman. As it turned out, Luffy and Usopp were still outside playing in the snow. Luffy built a snowman while Usopp built a snow-monster. Usopp's actually didn't look half-bad.

"Don't make me go out there and kick your asses!" threatened Sanji.

"Ignore them. Just let them get it out of their system," advised Terra, who was sorely tempted to pelt the two of them with snowballs. The guys eventually came back inside after that, though, so they were all there to listen to what Dalton had to say about the witch.

Anyway, as it turned out, the witch lived on top of that ridiculously steep mountain. She was a good doctor, but there was no way to contact her. She was also 140 years old, but after nearly getting eaten by a giant goldfish, Terra couldn't say that hearing that on an island in the Grand Line was so surprising.

When it came to treating patients, the witch would just come without warning. She would then look for the patients, treat them, and then take whatever she wanted.

. . . And this was a person they allowed to treat their sick and wounded? Then again, she probably wasn't giving them much of a choice, since she was the only doctor on the island.

Terra frowned. With someone who just did whatever they wanted like this witch, who knew how long it would be before she would come to this village and treat Nami? But then, people would often get sick, so maybe she would come down regularly? That wasn't something she wanted to bet on, and she disliked the idea of waiting for an unknown amount of time for this witch who would ride a sleigh down the mountain to show up.

There had to be another way.

That was when Luffy started to wake Nami up.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded the rest of their crewmates. Terra only stood by and watched to see what Luffy was going to do. They all got their answer when Nami woke up.

"If we don't go to the mountain, we can't see the doctor. Let's go hiking," said Luffy with a straight face.

"Don't be stupid! You are going to take Nami on a hike?" shouted Sanji.

"It's ok. I can carry her," said Luffy.

"But it can make her get worse!" explained Vivi. Terra watched as the argument went on, mulling over her own thoughts on the matter. Nami shouldn't be moving around too much in her condition, but the doctor was on the mountain and not here. The doctor might come today, or she might come days later, and Nami didn't have that kind of time.

"Terra! Can you please talk some sense into him?" asked Vivi, thinking that the woman was on her side. Terra was silent for a moment before speaking up.

"No. I think I agree with him," she stated.

"WHAT?" yelled Vivi, shocked that Terra was agreeing with Luffy's plan.

"But Nami is in no condition to travel! The mountain is too steep to climb, especially with a sick person! You should know this!" said Vivi. Terra nodded.

"Yes, I do. But I dislike waiting around for someone who might not show up for a few days. And Nami may not have that kind of time. So no matter what we do, there's going to be some risks involved. I'd rather go to a place where the doctor is frequently than stay in one place hoping she will come. Besides, I'll be going along as well to help out, so there shouldn't be any trouble along the way," she said, trying to reassure the Princess that their friend was in good hands.

Suddenly, Nami started to laugh weakly.

"I'll leave it to you now," she said. It was at that point that Terra knew that Luffy had won the argument. They were going to climb the mountain.

Hey, it couldn't be as tough as it seemed, could it?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch . . .

For a while, that was the only sound besides the wind to reach her ears. But she didn't mind the silence as long as they were moving.

After convincing everyone else to let her, Luffy, and Sanji to carry Nami up the mountain, Vivi tied Nami to Luffy's back and Terra and Sanji took up their positions on either side of Luffy. Dalton warned them about some man-eating rabbits or something being on this side of the mountain, but they didn't have all day to go to the other side. Besides, she was anxious to see this doctor. 140-year-old witch or not, this person must be good at her job. There was going to be hell to pay if there was any indication that all of this work was for nothing.

"Hey Terra!" shouted Luffy from behind her. Wait, behind? Terra looked over her shoulder to see the guys being a fair distance behind her. Confused, she stopped and waited for them to catch up.

"Can you walk slower? I can't go too fast with Nami on my back," said Luffy when he finally caught up.

". . . I walk fast?" she asked. It was most likely a stupid question, but she had never noticed her walking speed before. At least, when she was in a hurry. Luffy nodded.

"Yeah. You also run fast. Remember, you almost outran us back at Roguetown," said Luffy. She frowned. She remembered running from Marines, but she didn't remember as to what their line-up had been when trying to escape before Smoker caught up to them.

"I didn't know. Sorry." Finding the witch wasn't going to do them any good if she got there first and the guys were a mile behind her.

"That's okay, Terra! I understand that you're worried about Nami, but don't worry. For I shall . . ."

"Okay, I get it. Let's get going now," Terra interrupted Sanji, not wanting to hear his overzealous speech.

They continued to hike up towards the mountains. The snow came down at a steady pace, causing Terra to draw the hood of her cloak more over her face. There wasn't anyone to hide from out here, but she did admit that the hood provided some relief from the snow. Even if a stray feather started to tickle her nose in that annoying way.

She looked up at the impossibly steep mountain, trying to ignore the feather. She remembered what Dalton said about a flying sleigh. While she was now expecting to see unusual things in the Grand Line, Terra was still a bit skeptical about that being the only way for the witch to get up on the mountain.

No, there had to be some way that nobody was able to see to easily scale the mountain. Because then otherwise they would have to find footholds on the mountain. She probably should have asked for a knife while she had the chance back at the village.

Terra sighed. Oh well. There was no point in lamenting such things now. They would focus on how to climb the mountain once they got to it. She just hoped that the doctor was in by the time they got up there.

Not a whole lot of action here, but necessary to move the story forward without going too fast (I hope). Updates might get slower for a while because I have finals coming up in about a month. I'm optimistic about two or three of them, but physics just might be the death of my brain (one of the difficulties of being a science major).

Anyway, just thought I'd give you guys the heads up about that. As usual, reviews tend to help me a lot when it comes to knowing about what you guys think about the story thus far (hint, hint).

See ya!