***Author's Note: I do not own One Piece, Oda does, I do own the characters I made up in this story (ex: Ivy, Cecily (Shadow), and any other made up characters throughout this story that I might create). Also, please do not copy this story and claim it as your own***

Chapt. 55: The Raccoon Dog Appears, The Curly-Brow Cook and the Rubber Idiot Failed Attempts At Eating Chopper, and A Battle Is On The Horizon

"Boy, what was that girl doing?" an unfamiliar woman's voice reached my ears, talking over a transponder snail (I think that it was a transponder snail, but I'm too sick to know for sure).

Who's she talking to? I thought tiredly, before blacking out.

(Ivy's dreaming right now)

"Good morning." Ace smirked over at me, his eyes closed, lying next to me with his arm wrapped around me,

"Good morning to you too," I smiled over at him, trying to get to get up, but Ace's grip on me tighten, "You know we have to meet back up with Luffy and the others, so let go."

"I have a better idea," Ace smirked in my ear, "We could continue from where we left off last night, then meet up with them,"

(End of Ivy's dream)

"Oh crap, why did I have that dream?" I muttered, sitting upright in the bed, turning around to see Nami sitting up in a bed looking at me with a raised eyebrow, turning to see the adorable Chopper standing against the wall facing us, but trying to hide, "Hi Nami, how are you feeling?"

"We are so going to be talking about that later," Nami smirked, turning towards Chopper with a sweatdrop on her head, "Umm…I think you've got that hiding thing backwards."

"That is the correct way to do that hiding thing, but," I sweatdropped, watching Chopper, "It's kinda too late to fix it now, since we've already seen you."

"SHUT UP, STUPID HUMANS!" Chopper frowned, peeking over the wall at us, "Do you mind telling me what temperature you both have?"

"I-I-IT TALKS!" Nami exclaimed, turning towards me with bared teeth, "AND WHY ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT HIM TALKING?!"

Chopper is so adorable, the anime doesn't give him justice, I thought, animal-heart-mode as I looked at Chopper, who was crashing into things, and turning to Nami with a smirk, "Shadow's an animal and she can talk, so it doesn't really surprise me that this guy can talk."

"KEEP IT DOWN UP THERE CHOPPER!" Kureha scolded, walking up the stairs, coming into the room, and smirking at us, "It's good to see you both up and it seems like both of your fevers have started going down as well."

"Nice outfit," I smirked, praising her, (Nami had turned her head towards me and was looking at me as if I was insane), "It fits someone as young as you."

"He warned me that you would try everything to get me to discharge you and girlie over here early," Kureha smirked, touching my forehead before walking over to Nami, "But thanks for the compliment."

Damn you, stupid Flame-Brain, I thought-cursing, only to glance up at Kureha with a sweet innocent face, "I don't know what you're talking about, I was just saying that outfit looked good on you."

"Uh-Huh," Kureha smirked, turning towards me, and handing back my transponder snail, "This kept ringing non-stop, so I answered it for you. There was a polite young man on the other line and when I explained what happened to you two he warned me that you would try to sweet talk your way out of leaving early."

"Who are you?" Nami inquired, glancing over at Doctor Kureha, "And there should be three others that were with us."

"I'm the only doctor around here," Kureha greeted with a smirk, turning towards Nami, taking a swig of her plum wine (she has brought that with her when she entered the room), "The name's Kureha, but the two of you may call me Irene and there were three others that came with you two they're sleeping in the other room."

"That's good," I smiled gratefully up at her, "Thank you for helping us, Irene. Those three tough guys weren't seriously hurt were they?"

"Nah, the blondie had a spinal fracture and the other two had extreme frost bite, but they should be fine," Kureha smirked over at me, taking a swig of her wine, before narrowing her eyes at the two of us, "What were the both of you girls doing? I had asked that boy of yours Red, but he had no idea what you guys had been up to."

"Huh?" Nami furrowed her brows over at Kureha, "Didn't we have the stomach flu or something?"

"Girlie is that what you thought? Then you two are lucky that those three brought you girls up the mountain to see a doctor because if they didn't you two would've surely died," Kureha informed, glancing over at Nami with a raised eyebrow, "You two of you had a sickness known as Kestia."

"Kestia?," Nami repeated, a look of confusion on her face, looking at Kureha, "I've never heard of it, so what is it?"

"Not many people know about it anymore, since it had supposedly died out over a 100 years ago so you wouldn't know about it," Kureha smirked, sitting in a chair, "It's a poisonous tick called Kestia, it introduced bacteria into your bodies and it causes high fevers, and severe pain, but it would've went away in 5 days without treatment."

"Really?" Nami smiled, sitting up straighter in her bed, "Then we really didn't need to stop for a doctor."

"Um Nami," I began, glancing over at Nami, "I wouldn't be so sure on that."

"Eh?" Nami puzzled, turning her heads towards me with a confused look on her face.

"Red's right," Kureha smirked, getting up out of her chair, walking towards Nami, and leaning close to her face, "It would've went away because you two girls would have been dead in five days, which is why people named it the 5 day disease. But what I can't figure out is how you two girls contracted the disease, you girls would've had to been walking around an ancient jungle with your belly's showing. No, that's ridiculous…huh?"

She doesn't know how right on the mark she is, Nami and I thought, a large sweatdrop on both of our heads appeared as we remember what happened in Little Garden.

"No way," Kureha muttered, glancing at us, and cackling, "What insane girls you two are, you two stay bed your treatment isn't finished yet."

"We'll be fine," Nami smiled over at Kureha, "Besides, we're feeling a lot better."

"Yeah," I nodded, grinning over at Kureha, "Plus, we're kinda in a hurry to get somewhere."

"It'll take 3 whole days for your bodies to heal completely, so you two better so in bed and rest." Kureha warned, starting to walk out the door.

"3 WHOLE DAYS?!" Nami repeated, sitting up in her bed, wide eyes, "WE CAN'T STAY HERE THAT LONG!"

"The only way that I let my patients leave is if they're either fully healed or if they're dead," Kureha smirked darkly, putting a scalpel to Nami's throat, "As I see it, you two are neither, so you two better get used to it."

"Irene, is it alright if I go walking around inside the castle?" I inquired, glancing over at Kureha, rolling my eyes when she gave me narrowed eyes, "I understand how serious our sickness is, so I promise that I won't try to leave. I'll be so bored just sitting here."

"Aren't you feeling weak and tired though?" Kureha narrowed her eyes at me, taking the scalpel away from Nami's throat, "I suppose that it would be alright, but if you start feeling sick you had better come back here and lay down or I'll be forced to drag you back here."

"I'm not feeling tired or anything to be honest, I'm actually like those guys in the other room," I grinned, getting up from my bed, starting to walk out the door, and turning back towards Kureha, "And once again Doctor Irene, thank you."

"Heh," Kureha smirked, taking a swig of her wine, turning towards Nami, "So she's a tough Red like those others in the other room."

"Uh-Huh," Nami smirked, laying down to rest, "She may not look it considering her height, but she can kick serious butt."

(*********************************************************)

"Now where is Wapol's treasure room?" I muttered, opening every door that I find as I walked around the inside of the castle, opening another door, smirking wide opening seeing the treasure room, walking into it, and started stuffing a whole bunch of treasure into bags (where did I get those bags from you may be asking? Well, it's one of those mysterious anime things where the characters pull things out from nowhere), "What do you know, looks like Wapol had one of the dragon blades. Sucks for him, but I'm taking it."

As I was stuffing treasure into bags, I noticed something glittering, so I picked it up and saw a dragon necklace. This dragon necklace had a black and white dragon on either side of a ruby-red heart. After putting it inside my neon green coat pocket, I continued putting treasure into bags until I heard loud voices shouting out in the hallway.

"MEAT!" the unmistakable voice of Luffy echoed into the treasure room.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Chopper's child-like voice rang out into the treasure room.

"HOLD ON LUFFY!" Sanji's voice boomed off the walls in the treasure room, "LET ME COOK THIS GUY FIRST!"

If they don't knock it off soon, I'm going…, I thought in irritation, only grimace upon feeling a sharp pain on my ankle, pulling my pants leg up, glancing down at my ankle bracelet, and seeing another charm on it, this time it was in the design of a reindeer face with a pink top hat on its head and it had a blue nose in the center, "Aww, I love this new charm."

"WAHHHHH!" Chopper shrieked from out in the hallway.

"COME BACK!" Luffy and Sanji commanded from out in the hallway.

"DON'T RUN AWAY MEAT!" Luffy pouted, I could hear his voice from inside the treasure room.

"DON'T EAT IT YET!" Sanji chided, from out in the hallway.

"That's it," I fumed, marching out into the hallway, huge big tick marks on my head, tackling both Luffy and Sanji to the ground, punching Sanji in the head before punching Luffy in the head and giving him my famous stretchy torture, "STOP TRYING TO EAT THE POOR GUY, YOU JERKS!"

"Holy, she wasn't kidding when she said she's tough like those guys," Kureha mused, watching us crash into the room, before turning back to Nami, "What were you going to ask me?"

"Yup, she is," Nami sweatdropped, watching us before turning towards Kureha, "Would you mind telling me more about this talking deer?"

"He's different from ordinary reindeer because he ate a human-human devil fruit, but a friend of mine asked me to look after him when he dies," Kureha smiled sadly, drinking her wine, "And I did, I took Chopper under my wing and taught him everything I know about being a doctor. He might even be better than me someday."

(*********************************************************)

Back at Big Horn

"So who's this Dalton guy anyway?" Zoro wondered, standing off to the side while everyone else was frantically searching for Dalton.

"We'll explain it to you later, so don't…got to bow," Usopp frowned over at Zoro, bowing upon seeing a hiking bear, the standing back up and turning towards Zoro, as everyone went into the snow and started digging frantically for Dalton, "As I was saying, don't just stand there, grab a shovel and help us look for Dalton."

"GUYS I FOUND DALTON!" a random villager shouted out in glee, only to get a look of dread on his face upon pulling Dalton out and seeing the shape that he was in, "We…were too late."

"Dalton.," Vivi spoke quietly, looking down at Dalton with a look of pain.

"It's not too late," a random MD-20 doctor stated, walking over to the group of villagers, "He's still alive, but we have to hurry and help him."

"Why should we let you guys help him?" a random villager sneered over at the group of MD-20's, "You guys are Wapol's personal doctors so why would you guys want to help Dalton?"

"We are still doctors, besides none of us liked working for Wapol," a MD-20 stated glumly, stepping forward, "This country can't afford to have any more brave people like Dalton die, so we're his only chance."

"Fine, then hurry up and save him.," the villagers nodded.

(*********************************************************)

Back at the castle

"Hey old lady," Luffy grinned, looking at Kureha (I had continued stuffing bags full of treasure when I was done with dealing the two of them their punishment), "Join my crew, we need a doctor."

"Luffy, that's your name right?" Kureha narrowed her eyes at Luffy, "Did I just hear you call me an old lady?"

"Yup, that's my name," Luffy grinned, nodding his head at her, "And I sure did call you an old lady."

"I'D WATCH WHAT I SAY IF I WERE YOU!" Kureha scolded, kicking Luffy into the wall, "I'm still in my youthful 130's thank you very much."

"Dang, you're a tough old hag." Sanji noted, getting sent flying into the wall by Kureha.

"I have no interest in life on the seas," Kureha objected, taking a swig of her plume wine, "Besides, it would be a waste of my youth."

"That's just an excuse," Luffy grinned, standing up and walking over to Kureha, "It's about adventure, old woman."

"I see that this one is a slow learner," Kureha observed, narrowing her eyes at Luffy, "Didn't I just tell you to watch what you say?"

So…these guys are pirates, Chopper thought, doing his hiding-backwards-thing as he watched them from the wall, only to start running when Luffy and Sanji started chasing him again, "WAAAAAAAA!"

"WAIT FOOD GET BACK HERE!" Luffy called, running after Chopper with Sanji right behind him, "LET ME HAVE 1 BITE OUT OF YOU!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT, YOU IDIOTS!" Kureha shouted, grabbing many different weapons as she started chasing after them, "YOU TWO WON'T TOUCH A HAIR ON MY CHOPPER'S HEAD!"

"Oh, Nami my dear, in a couple of minutes I'll be making you and Ivy-Chawn a reindeer dish that you two will never forget.," Sanji promised, his heart-mode activating, chasing Chopper as he ran to catch up with Luffy, turning his back to look at Nami, only to get bugging eyes when he saw Kureha dashing after them, "GYAAAAAA!"

"I DON'T THINK SO!" Kureha threatened, grabbing two knives from the wall, charging after them, "I'LL EAT YOU GUYS BEFORE I LET MY REINDEER BE EATEN BY YOU TWO CLOWNS!"

"SCARY HAG!" Sanji and Luffy yelped, eyes bugging out of their sockets, bared teeth with their jaws opened, a look of terror on their faces as they bolted like the wind to get away from her.

"THE SCARY OLD HAG IS CHASING US!" Sanji wailed, sprinting alongside of Luffy, his eyes going out of their sockets, jaw opened wide with bared teeth.

"AND SHE'S CARRYING KNIVES!" Luffy pointed out, eyes out if his sockets as well, running like the speed of light, his jaw hanging opened with teeth bared.

"I'm not really hungry right now, I rather have some peace and quiet," Nami muttered under her breath, shivering when a cold draft came into the room, noticing the door to go outside of the castle was opened, starting to get up out of bed to close the door only to freeze in place upon hearing Chopper call to her, "Brr its cold, I'm just gonna go shut the door."

"Phew, I think I lost those two," Chopper sighed in relief, wiping an imaginary sweat off his brow, glancing around to make sure that Luffy and Sanji weren't around, closing the door, and turning towards Nami, "No you and that other girl should be staying in bed since the bacteria will remain inside your bodies for a while longer."

"Hey Nami look at the treasure I found," I smirked, dragging the bags behind me as I walked into the room, seeing Chopper start crashing into things, setting the bags down, walking towards him with a smile on my face, and bending down in front of him, "Hi, I'm Ivy, your name's Chopper right?"

"That's a nice haul Ivy," Nami nodded her head in approval, looking at the bags filled with treasure, and turning her head towards Chopper, "This is the one who has been taking care of us."

"I'm sorry for startling you, oh and I'm also sorry for the way that those two rude knuckleheads are acting towards you," I smiled down at him, "Thank you for taking care of us, isn't that right Nami?"

"Yeah," Nami grinned over at Chopper, "You saved our lives so thank you."

"SHUT UP YOU BASTARDS!" Chopper giggled, doing his happy dance, "HEARING THOSE WORDS DON'T MAKE ME HAPPY AT ALL!"

AWWWW! He's even cuter in real life, I thought, my heart-mode activated as I glanced down at him, "Chopper do you mind if I give you a hug?"

He's not good at hiding his emotions is he? Nami thought, watching me give a little hug to Chopper with a sweatdrop on her head.

"Something's weird is going on with this castle," Sanji observed, running alongside Luffy, glancing around the inside of the castle as they run, "It's freezing cold inside the castle and there's snow literally everywhere."

"You're right," Luffy agreed, putting his arms around himself as he shivered, and running beside Sanji, "It is cold in here."

"Seriously you just realized how cold it is after someone mentions it?" Sanji sweatdropped, slapping the air with his hand, glancing over at Luffy with a raised eyebrow, "Not the sharpest knife in the drawer are you?"

"DIE YOU TWERPS!" Kureha cackled, landing in front of the two, carrying the knifes in her hands, (both Luffy and Sanji stared at her for a few seconds before taking off away from her), throwing them at the two of them as she chased after them, "GET BACK HERE BOYS!"

"AHHHHHHHH!" Luffy and Sanji shouted, speeding off to get away from Kureha, big wide eyes, and mouths opened.

"Luffy, I know it's not my place to tell you what to do, but you should really rethink your decision about letting her join our crew," Sanji advised, running alongside Luffy, dodging various weapons that Kureha throw at them, "I'm pretty sure that doctors aren't supposed to chase their patients around trying to kill them."

"You're right," Luffy agreed, running beside Sanji, dodging different weapons that Kureha throws at them, "SHE'S MORE OF A DERANGED LUNATIC THAN A DOCTOR!"

"So are you guys really pirates?" Chopper questioned, walking slowly towards me, nervously putting his hoof onto my hand then quickly taking it back, and then walking carefully and slowly over to Nami and doing the same thing to her.

"Yup," Nami smiled over at him, "You know we won't try to eat you so you don't have to act so nervous around us."

"I'M NOT NERVOUS SO SHUT UP!" Chopper denied, tapping her hand with his hoof before pulling it away quickly, "Really real pirates?"

"Real pirates," I smiled down at him, walking carefully towards him, "We go on adventures and see the most unbelievable places that you can only dream about until you see it with your own eyes."

"For real?" Chopper snapped his head towards me with a wide eyes, "If you guys are pirates does that mean that you guys have a pirate flag?"

"We sure do, it's on our ship," Nami nodded, smiling down at Chopper, giving me a knowing look before glancing back down at him, "Are you interested in becoming a pirate?"

"NO I'M NOT, IDIOT!" Chopper hollered, crashing into the bookcase, "SHUT UP!"

"Calm down, she was just asking a question it's nothing to get worked up over," I smiled, walking over to him, picking up the fallen books off of him, and helping him up, "Would you be interested in coming with us? We really need a doctor on our ship and you would be the most adorable doctor ever."

"SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!" Chopper giggled, doing his happy dance, only to frown up at me, "I'm a blue-nosed-walking-talking-reindeer-monster, I don't belong on a ship with humans."

"We're all weird Chopper," I smiled down at him, "You don't look scary to me. What about you Nami? Does Chopper look like a vicious man-eating monster to you?"

"No way," Nami grinned over at Chopper, "He looks like a cute animal to me."

"Chopper, I'm an animal and I can walk and talk too," Shadow grinned, walking into the room, "I can promise you that these people are the weirdest bunch that you'll ever meet, but they also are the kindest too. They will never judge their friends by what they look like or how they act."

"THERE YOU ARE MEAT!" Luffy shouted, barging into the room with Sanji right behind him, "COME ON AND LET ME EAT YOU!"

"GYAAAAAA!" Chopper yelled, eyes out of his sockets, his tongue out and running out of the room in panic, "LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M NOT YOUR GUYS FOOD!"

"COME HERE DEER!" Luffy and Sanji ordered, running after Chopper.

"Damn, those brats can run," Kureha huffed, sitting down in her chair, taking a swig of her wine, turning towards us, "I didn't like what the two of you were doing, tempting my little reindeer and wanting to take him away from me."

"Excuse me, I have a couple of butts that I need to kick," I smirked, cracking my knuckles, and running out the door after Sanji and Luffy, "STOP TRYING TO EAT CHOPPER, YOU JERKS!"

"Are they always this…lively?" Kureha turned to Nami with a raised eyebrow, "Let me tell you about Chopper's scar on his heart."

Shadow went to lie down on Nami's lap.

(**************************************************)

"Where did that reindeer meat go?" Luffy pouted, glancing around, as he skidded to halt with me and Sanji skidding to halt on either side of him.

"CHOPPER ISN'T REINDEER MEAT, YOU JERK!" I bared my teeth at him, whacking him upside the head, a tick mark on my head, "HE'S OUR FRIEND, THEREFORE WE CAN'T EAT HIM!"

"No wonder it's freezing cold inside the castle and that there's snow everywhere," Sanji noted, pointing towards an opened door, "The front door to the castle is wide opened."

"So that's why there were those huge gusts of winds coming into the castle," Luffy grinned, walking over to the door with Sanji walking right beside him, "Let's close then."

"STAY AWAY FROM THERE!" Chopper yelled, standing on the railing looking down at the two, "DON'T YOU TWO DARE TOUCH THAT DOOR!"

"Hmm," Sanji glanced up, turning his head back to Luffy, and ignoring Chopper, "Just ignore him and let's close the door."

"DID YOU TWO NOT HEAR WHAT I SAID?!" Chopper roared, changing into his human form, "DON'T TOUCH THAT DOOR!"

"Woah, what's his problem?" Luffy wondered, glancing up at Chopper, "Why is he getting angry?"

"You both are completely inconsiderate blockheads," I frowned, walking over to the door, glancing up to see the nest of snow birds, and calling over to Luffy and Sanji, "Come over here and then you two will understand why Chopper got so upset at you two."

"Oh," Sanji said, walking up to me, glancing up to see the bird nest up on the door, "I see now."

"Oops," Luffy grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck, "If we would have closed the door then those birds would have fallen out of their nest."

"Now I think the both of you should apologize to Chopper," I advised, only to sigh when I saw that neither of them were listening, "And they're not listening to a thing I'm saying."

"Hang on," Luffy hawed, gaping at Sanji, "Did that reindeer just…talk?"

"Yeah," Sanji nodded, staring at Luffy, "Not only that, it also was standing up on two feet."

"HE'S A MONSTER!" Sanji and Luffy exclaimed, eyes out of their sockets, and their mouths wide open with bared teeth.

"Let's get this straight," Luffy declared, a serious look on his face (one of his fake serious looks), "He walks upright and talks."

"But not human." Sanji continued, looking at Luffy.

"Has fur." Luffy listed, looking over at Sanji.

"He's little." Sanji noted, continuing to look at Luffy.

"And becomes big." Luffy finished, looking at Sanji.

"CLEARLY HE'S A MONSTER!" Luffy and Sanji concluded, wide eyes, jaws wide open.

"CAN YOU GUYS BE ANYMORE RUDE?!" I bared my teeth at them, crossing my arms and punching them on the head, "TRY TO THINK ABOUT OTHER'S FEELINGS BEFORE YOU TALK!"

"That's soo cool," Luffy grinned, getting that certain gleam in his eye, "I want him to join our crew."

"You only want him to join because he's a walking, talking reindeer." Sanji and I deadpanned, watching Luffy with sweatdrops on our heads as stars started blinking around Luffy's face.

"And…he's gone," I shook my head in amusement, watching Luffy run off to find Chopper, "I should've guessed that he would want Chopper on his crew once he found out Chopper can walk and talk."

"Seriously," Sanji chuckled lightly, standing beside me, watching Luffy run off, "He's such a little kid sometimes."

"True that," I snorted, "At least he's easy to figure out."

TO BE CONTINUED…