Yo.

Here's chapter 19. I won't hold you guys up.

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 19: Straw Hats, Part 3

"Hey" - Speaking

'Hm?' - Mental

Shave - Techniques

"So, it just snows here all the time?" Nojiko asked, looking around at the island the crew were currently on. It hadn't been easy, since there had apparently been another pirate crew here before them, that had caused a lot of trouble on the island, leading to its inhabitants being very wary of the Straw Hats. After a long conversation, however, they agreed to let them on the island, under the condition that they would be watched very closely.

"Yes. The only thing that changes, is how much comes down." The man leading them said. He was a big man that had lightly tanned skin, dark brown hair, and a goatee. His name was Dalton.

"Don't people get tired of it?" Sanji asked, taking a puff of his cigarette.

"Not really. Most of the people here have never left the island, so they don't really have anything to compare it to." The man explained, before his expression became somewhat worried. "More importantly, you all said that you're just waiting for your log pose to set, right?"

"That's right. Why, is something wrong?" Luffy asked, frowning slightly as he looked around, noticing how sick some of the people looked.

"You came at a bad time. For the past month or so, there's been a terrible flu going around."

"How bad is it?" Usopp asked, shivering a bit from the coldness.

"...It's already claimed 3 lives." Dalton said with a grim tone, getting wide eyes from the Straw Hats.

"It's killed 3 people? Have the doctors said what kind of flu it is?" Nami asked in shock, making Dalton's expression darken.

"The king took the 20 best doctors for himself, while the rest were either banished or killed, not allowing them to help any of the citizens." He said, balling his fists tightly.

"What?!" Vivi hissed, stopping in her tracks with an angered look on her face. "What kind of king does something like that to his own people?!"

"Wapol." Dalton said, his tone clearly indicating that he had no love for the king.

"Wapol? You mean that fat guy with the metal mouth?" Luffy asked, getting Dalton to turn to him in surprise.

"You know him?"

"We ran into him on our way here. Him and his crew attacked us." Nojiko said with a frown. "Vivi mentioned that he was a king, but we didn't know what country he ruled."

'Vivi? Why does that sound familiar?' Dalton wondered.

"He tried to eat my ship!" Luffy shouted, still upset about that.

"If he's the king, what was he doing out at sea? His crew didn't even have a log pose to get back here." Sanji said with confusion.

"That coward left when we were attacked by those pirates." Dalton informed them with a heavy frown. "It's bad enough to be dealing with this flu that's going around, but adding a pirate attack on top of that? It's made some people wonder if maybe we're cursed."

"Just who were these pirates? How bad was the attack?" Nami asked while looking around. Honestly, despite having heard about this pirate attack multiple times now, it didn't look like there had been any type of battle here recently.

"It happened just a few months ago... It was a crew of 5 people, led by a man called 'Blackbeard'. With overwhelming strength, they completely wrecked our island, practically in the blink of an eye."

"5 people?!" Usopp and Vivi both exclaimed in unison, shocked that a mere 5 people could do so much damage.

"Honestly, we got lucky. Although they destroyed the island, it didn't seem like they were particularly interested in killing us. If they had been, then I wouldn't even be talking to you right now. As much as I hate to say it, I was no match for any of them." Dalton said, before shaking his head with a sigh. "Anyway, we've reached my home. We can continue our discussion in here."

As they all walked inside, nobody noticed Nami cough.

"Are you alright, Nami?" Luffy asked with a concerned expression, sitting next to the orange-haired navigator in Dalton's house. It had been a few days since they arrived on this island, and Nami had been looking much more pale than usual.

"I'm... fine." She replied, panting as she swiped some sweat from her forehead. "Why is it so hot in here?"

"Sis, you're the only one that's hot." Nojiko said as she walked over, before she crouched and placed the back of her hand against Nami's forehead. "You're burning up!"

"I said, I'm fine." Nami said tiredly, pushing Nojiko's hand away as she stood up, only to start swaying unsteadily. She would have fallen, too, were it not for Luffy quickly catching her.

"Nami-swan!" Sanji shouted, rushing over with Vivi, Usopp, and Dalton.

"This is bad." Dalton said, getting the attention of the others.

"What do you mean?! What's wrong with Nami?!" Nojiko shouted, looking at her sister with worried eyes.

"She's showing the same symptoms as others who have caught the flu." He told them with a grim tone, shocking them. "I had noticed that she looked a little pale, but hoped it was maybe just a common cold. Unfortunately, that's not the case."

"W- What do we do?!" Luffy asked hurriedly, holding Nami close to him. He would not let her die!

Placing a hand on his forehead, Dalton paced back and forth, before he stopped and turned to the Straw Hats with a serious expression. "If you want to save your friend's life, there's only one possible choice. Even then, it's not a guarantee."

"Just tell us!" They all, including Vivi, shouted.

"Right. Well, as I mentioned to you all a few days ago, Wapol took the 20 best doctors for himself, while the others were banished or killed." Dalton began, getting nods from the Straw Hats as they all remembered that. "However, there is one doctor left on the island. She had gone into hiding when Wapol subjugated the other doctors, and only came out after he was ran off the island. Since then, she's taken up residence in the abandoned castle."

"Then, all I have to do is take Nami there, and this lady will help her, right?" Luffy asked, only to frown when he saw Dalton slowly shake his head with a complicated expression.

"It's not that simple. You see, this woman - Kureha is her name - sometimes comes down to help people in the village. However, her help doesn't come free. She often asks for more than anyone can give up without it causing them a lot of trouble. There've been times when she's asked for over 50% of someone's profits from their business, along with huge discounts, free food, and the list goes on. Sometimes, if she's feeling generous, she'll lower her price, but only by a little. Because of all this, people have taken to calling her a witch." Dalton explained to them.

"And I'm guessing for something as serious as this flu, the price would be pretty steep." Sanji guessed, getting a nod from Dalton.

"Then it's a price we'll have to pay." Luffy said with seriousness, getting the others to look at him as he stood up, before he put Nami on his back. "Saving Nami is what's important, and I'm not leaving until this Kureha lady agrees to help her."

"Agreed." Nojiko said, before she turned to Dalton. "Any idea where she is now?"

"Last I heard, she was in a town not far from this one, called Cocoa Weed, just earlier today. "By now, though, she's might already making her way back to the castle, if she's not already there."

"What should we do, Luffy? Split up?" Usopp asked, turning to his captain.

"Yeah. It would take too much time to go to both places, and Nami's only looking worse as more time goes by." Luffy replied with a nod. "Nojiko, you're with me. We're gonna go to the castle. Sanji, Usopp, and Vivi, you three head to Cocoa Weed."

"No way! I'm coming with you to watch over Nami-swan!" Sanji declared passionately, making Luffy actually frown in slight annoyance. He didn't usually mind Sanji's fixation on maintaining his code of being a white knight or whatever, but now wasn't the time for this. He was about to say something, only for Nojiko to speak up first.

"We've got this, Sanji." She said, placing a hand on the cook's shoulder. "You want to help Nami, right? Listen to what Luffy says."

"B- But..."

"Trust us." She said, getting a reluctant nod from him. She then turned to Luffy, who gave her a thankful look.

"When you guys get there, use your transponder snail to call us and let us know if the doctor is there or not. We'll do the same." Luffy said, getting nods all around.

"Before you all go, there's one last thing I need to warn you about." Dalton said, stopping them just aa they were about to leave.

"What is it?" Luffy asked quickly, not wanting to waste any more time.

"Watch out for the lapins. They're monstrous rabbits that have the strength and physique of bears, with all the nimbleness of normal rabbits. If you come across them, especially a group of them, be careful not to let your guard down."

"Great." Usopp muttered nervously. As if there wasn't already enough to worry about.

"Thanks for the warning." Luffy said, with Dalton waving it off, before they all exited the house. "Let's go."

With one last worried look at Nami, Sanji turned and began running in the direction of Cocoa Weed, followed by Usopp and Vivi.

"Let's go." Luffy said to Nojiko, getting a sharp nod in return, before the two began heading towards the mountains.

'Just hold on, Nami!'

"These damn things are annoying!" Nojiko yelled, kicking one of the lapins away from her and Luffy. Once the two started ascending the large mountain, it hadn't taken long for the carnivorous rabbits to start coming after them.

Any other time, Luffy would be wanting to make one of these rabbits his friend. Now, however, he was inclined to agree with Nojiko.

As the two (three, technically) pirates made their way further up the mountain, they came to a stop when they saw over twenty lapins in front of them, seemingly waiting for them. And then, as if on command, they all started hopping in place.

'What're they...' Nojiko trailed off in her mind, before she noticed how the mountain was beginning to shake, make her eyes widen as she realized what they were trying to do. Quickly turning to Luffy, she hurriedly informed him, "Luffy, they're trying to start an avalanche!"

"What?!" The young captain exclaimed, his eyes also widening, before they narrowed as he decided to hurry up and end this. Focusing as much as he could, he stretched out his observation haki as much as he was currently able to, before releasing a burst of conqueror's haki. Since he could only safely use it once a day, he often chose to save it as much as he could for a time when he really needed it. This, he supposed, was as good a time as any to use it. They didn't have time to get caught up in a long, drawn out fight.

"Good. Now, let's go!" Nojiko said, getting a nod from the rubbery captain as they continued to make their way to the castle. A few minutes later, Luffy's transponder snail started ringing.

Pulling the snail out from inside his jacket, Luffy answered without slowing down, "Is that you, Sanji?"

"Yeah. The doctor isn't here. We just missed her by a few minutes." The cook replied with a frustrated tone.

"I see. Good thing we didn't bring Nami there, then." Luffy responded, with Nojiko nodding beside him.

"Have you all made it to the castle yet?"

"Not yet. These mountains are huge. We're not too far, though."

"Do you-" The cook suddenly paused, and Luffy and Nojiko could hear some shouting in the background. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"What's going on, Sanji? What's all that screaming?" Nojiko asked, grabbing the snail as Luffy held it out for her.

"Apparently, Wapol and his underlings just made it back to the island."

Frowning, Luffy said, "If you guys see him, feel free to kick his ass. We don't need him getting in our way while Nami is sick."

"How's she doing?"

Turning his neck all the way around, Luffy took a look at the navigator's face, frowning in concern. It didn't take medical knowledge to see that she was not fairing well. It didn't help that, the higher up they went, the colder it got.

"Not great. We're gonna have to pick up our speed. Call you when we get there." Luffy said, before he ended the call. "Come on, Nojiko. We have to hurry!"

"Right!" She said, before the pair doubled their efforts.

About ten minutes later, they finally reached the base of the large, drum-shaped mountain that the castle was on top of.

"This is really tall. It'll take too long to climb it." Luffy said, before he turned to Nojiko. "Can you get us up there faster?"

"As long as we move quickly, it shouldn't be too much of a problem." Nojiko said, taking a few steps back, with Luffy doing the same, before she held her arms out in front of her, with a thick, silvery liquid shooting out of her palms.

This was due to the power of the Metal-Metal fruit. A logia that allowed her to manipulate liquid metal.

As she expected, the metal began to quickly solidify, due to how cold it was.

"We have to be as quick as possible. The longer we take, and the higher we get, the more brittle this is gonna get." She told Luffy, getting a nod from him, before the two began running up the long ramp she was creating, making it swirl around the mountain as they continued to make their way up.

"Finally." Nojiko said, panting a bit as she and Luffy made it to the top of the mountain. Her devil fruit really did not mix well with weather like this.

"Hey! Is Kureha here?!" Luffy yelled, his voice being somewhat muffled by the heavy wind. "Hello?!"

'It's freezing!' Nojiko thought, shivering as they continued on their way to the castle. It felt like she wasn't even wearing a coat.

As they continued to approach the castle, they both came to a stop when they saw a figure walking towards them.

"Who are you?" The person said, their silhouette showing that they were a big man.

"Please! We need a doctor! My sister is sick with the flu that's been going around!" Nojiko explained, her teeth chattering as she spoke.

"What?!" The person said, running towards them. As he became visible, the two pirates were finally able to take in his appearance.

The... man(?) was covered in brown fur, had a blue nose, and was wearing a red hat with a white X on it. He had a big body, and looked to stand a little over 6'.

Figuring this was no time to be surprised about his appearance, especially considering that she'd definitely seen weirder things before, Nojiko wasted no more time, asking, "Well?! Can you help her?!"

"Come on! Follow me!" The furry man said, ushering them inside the castle.

They ran down a hall for a bit, before the man/creature pushed a door open, shouting, "Doctorine! Someone else with the flu!"

As they entered the room, the two pirates saw an elderly woman with long, pale blonde hair and dark glasses sitting in a chair, one leg over the other as she drank from a bottle of booze.

"Oh? And who would you two - or, I suppose I should say three - be?" The woman asked, sitting her bottle down as she looked at them. "I've lived here quite a long time, and I'm certain that I've never seen any of you. Meaning you must be the pirates that arrived here a few days ago."

"That's right." Luffy said, walking further into the room, before he repositioned Nami so that he was now holding her in a bridal fashion. "We went through a lot to get all the way up here. Can you help her?"

"That's not how it works. When I feel like helping, I go down to one of the towns, and look for a patient." Kureha said, standing up. "However... I suppose I can make an execption, seeing as you did brave the harsh weather to come all this way. I'm not heartless."

"How much will it cost?" Luffy asked, gently putting Nami down on the bed.

"We can discuss that later." The doctor replied, cracking her knuckles as she walked over to the unconscious Nami. "Go get yourselves soaked in some hot water, help treat that frostbite. Just keep walking down the hall, you'll find the bathroom eventually. While you're doing that, I'll attend to the girlie here."

"Thank you." Nojiko said, still shivering. Nudging Luffy, they both gave Nami one more worried glance, before the captain turned to the doctor.

"She's important to me." He said, surprising Nojiko when he bowed his head slightly.

"I know." Kureha replied, her tone sounding a bit softer. "Now go."

Groggily, Nami stirred awake, feeling like she had a terrible hangover. As her eyes fluttered open, a feeling of confusion washed over her as she took in her surroundings.

"Where...?" She trailed off, struggling to push herself up. Her arms were feeling like noodles.

As she managed to get herself up into a sitting position, she turned her head to the right, blinking at the little creature she saw standing on a chair, facing away from her.

"Um... Hello?" She croaked out, watching as the little creature jumped off the chair in shock, before spinning around to look at her. The creature then ran to hide behind a wall, but did it in a rather strange way.

"You know you're doing that wrong, right?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

'A reindeer?' She wondered, taking note of the horns on the little creature's head.

"Shut up, you human!" The reindeer yelled, surprising Nami that it could actually speak. Then, the reindeer's expression suddenly changed. "By the way, are you feeling better? Do you still have a fever?"

Putting the back of her hand against her forehead, Nami shook her head and said, "Just a little hot."

"That's good. It means the medicine is already working." The reindeer said, still trying to hide.

"Thanks for taking care of me." Nami said with a smile, making the reindeer's expression change to one of surprise.

"I- Is it true that you guys are pirates?" The reindeer asked, leaving his 'hiding' place, before he started to slowly inch his way into the room.

"Yes."

"You have a pirate flag?"

"Yup. It's on our ship." Nami responded, before asking curiously, " Do you want to be a pirate?"

"D- Don't be stupid! Who told you that?!"

"Why don't you join us? We need a doctor, anyway."

"There's no way a reindeer could join a bunch of humans!" The reindeer yelled, before he ran out of the room, making Nami sigh.

"Well, looks like you're awake, girlie." An unfamiliar voice said. Looking up, Nami saw an elderly woman walk into the room, holding a bottle of booze as she sat down in the chair next to the bed.

"How long have I been here?" Nami asked, hoping that it hadn't been that long. They still needed to hurry and get Vivi home.

"Relax. It's only been a few hours." Kureha informed her, getting a breath of relief from Nami. "Your friends are in the other room."

"Are they alright?"

"Sure. Just a bit of frostbite."

Releasing another sigh of relief, Nami tried to get up off the bed, only for Kureha to hold her down. "Uh, I'm feeling better now, so-"

"Listen, girlie." Kureha began, suddenly holding a scalpel. "The only way my patients leave, is if they die, or have been cleared to leave by me. Neither of those two options apply to you at the moment."

"But-"

"The medicine hasn't fully set in yet." Kureha cut her off. "You may be feeling better now, but that won't be the case if you rush and push yourself."

Sighing, Nami reluctantly laid back down, while Kureha went back to her seat. A few minutes later, a question arose in Nami's mind. "Hey, Doctor."

"What?"

"Just what is that reindeer? He's able to walk and talk like a human, and even knows about medicine." The navigator asked with interest.

The doctor took a long gulp of her drink, before she went on to explain Chopper's past.

"That's awful." Nami said with a frown.

"I heard you asking him to join your crew." Kureha said, finishing off her booze with another long gulp, before looking at Nami seriously. "So, do you think you all can heal the wound in his heart?"

"DOCTORINE!" They heard Chopper yell, making them both jump, before the reindeer came running into the rum. "Doctorine! It's Wapol! He's back!'

"I see." Kureha replied, closing her eyes, before she stood up. "Well, let's go greet our guest."

"Lord Wapol! There's something strange at the top of the castle!"

Looking up, Wapol scowled as he saw a black flag - a pirate flag - at the top of his castle.

"This is unacceptable! Where is the Drum Kingdom flag?!" The whale of a man yelled, only to scowl further when he heard someone laughing.

"I burnt that flag to ashes." Kureha said, walking out of the castle, with Chopper next to her, now looking more like an actual reindeer.

"Kureha." Wapol said with a sneer. "After all your hiding, you actually dare to try to make yourself at home in my castle."

"This is Hiriluk's resting place. It's not fit for a rotten kid like you."

"That old fool's resting place? Don't make me laugh!" Wapol yelled, before laughing obnoxiously, with his two henchmen joining in.

Suddenly, a new voice was heard.

"Gum-Gum... Bullet!" Was the shout heard across the top off the mountain, before Luffy suddenly appeared in front of Wapol, delivering a strong punch to his stomach, sending him flying back. Before the king could go flying off the mountain, the rubbery captain stretched his arm out and pulled him back, before proceeding to deliver another punch, this time to the face, nearly burying his head into the ground.

This all happened within the span of a few seconds, and when those present finally registered exactly what it was that just happened, they were left with gaping expressions.

"That was for my ship." Luffy said, putting his hat on as he walked over to Kureha and Chopper, who now also had Nojiko next to them, while Wapol's henchmen fretted over him. As he was walking, he paused mid-step, looking at the flag on top of the castle. "I didn't notice that before. Did a pirate used to live here?"

"You... stretched." Chopper was the first to speak, sounding a rather interesting mix of confused, awed, and surprised.

"Hm? Ah, yeah. I ate the Gum-Gum fruit, making me a rubber man." Luffy said, pulling his cheeks to demonstrate, making Chopper's eyes widen as he saw it.

"How do you know them?" Kureha asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"They attacked and tried to rob us on our way to this island." Nojiko answered with a frown.

"You dare to strike me?!" Wapol yelled, pushing himself up out of the snow, now sporting a bruise on his face as blood dripped from his mouth.

"Guess he's tougher than I thought." Luffy said, cracking his neck, before turning to Chopper with a smile. "Chopper, right? Can you fight?"

Caught off guard by the sudden question, the reindeer stuttered, "W- What?"

"Can you fight?"

"Um... Yeah?"

"Then, why don't we kick these guys asses?" Luffy suggested, his smile growing wider as he pointed at Wapol and his lackeys. "This is your home, right? You should fight for it."

Chopper was silent for a few seconds, before he turned to Wapol, thinking about everything the awful king had put him and this country through, making his expression slowly shift into a glare. Then, he transformed back into his 'human' form, balling his fists as he shouted at Wapol and his henchmen, "Doctor Hiriluk just wanted to help this country. I won't let you destroy this flag-- his symbol of faith!"

"Then you will all just have to die here!" Wapol yelled, as if he hadn't already planned on killing them.

"Don't worry, Lord Wapol." His two henchmen said, stepping forward. "We will deal with these arrogant fools, and put you back in your place as the rightful ruler of this country."

"I'll let you take them, while I deal with that bastard." Luffy said, getting a nod from Chopper.

"Seven transformations?! What kind of zoan are you?!" Wapol's henchmen, now fused into one being, yelled in confusion, having trouble fighting against Chopper, due to the way he kept switching to different forms on the fly.

"Whoa." Nojiko whispered in awe, amazed to see how far the reindeer was able to push his devil fruit through research and his knowledge of medicine.

"I've found your weak point." Chopper said, now back in his normal form, which he referred to as 'Brain Point'.

After dashing in with the use of his Leg Point, which boosted his speed and jumping ability, he then switched to Arm Point, which greatly increased his arm strength, before delivering a strong punch to the lackey's chin, knocking them (him?) out cold.

"Whoa! You're amazing, Chopper!" Luffy said with stars in his eyes.

"D- Don't think calling me amazing will make me feel happy or anything, you bastard!" Despite saying this, the reindeer was now smiling happily as he did a strange dance.

Turning to the angry Wapol, Luffy grinned, saying, "You're the only one left."

"Fool! If you think I'll go down as easily as those two, then-" Once again, Luffy suddenly appeared in front of the fat king, both arms stretched far behind him.

"Gum-Gum... Bazooka!" Luffy yelled, sending Wapol flying far off into the sky as the attack landed.

And just like that, it was over.

'I guess Sensei was right. As I am right now, I probably won't have much trouble in this part of the Grand Line.' Luffy thought, sighing as he realized it would probably be a while before he was able to get a good fight. He hoped that, at the very least, Crocodile wouldn't go down so easily.

'Now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder what Sensei's up to?'

On a dark, cloudy day near an island in the New World, Jeremiah could be found standing on the deck of The Big Dipper, staring up at the sky with his hands in his pockets, sighing as a light drizzle of rain began to fall.

'Just what is this feeling, I wonder?' He thought, frowning slightly. Inexplicably, he'd had a bad feeling all day.

Feeling a pair of arms wrap around him from behind, he grew a small smile.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Diane asked, sounding worried. "You've looked stressed all day, which is rare for you."

"I can't quite explain it myself." He replied, sighing again as he placed his hands on top of hers. "I just-"

Suddenly Jeremiah came to an abrupt stop, his head snapping to the side with wide eyes. 'What the hell is that?!'

Just before it reached him, he managed to push Diane out of the way.

"CAPTAIN!"

"Who... The hell... Are you?!" Jeremiah yelled, trading blows with his attacker as they flew through the air at tremendous speeds.

Eventually, the reached an island, shaking it as they crashed down.

"I'll ask again: Who are you? Wherw did you come from?" Jeremiah asked, his right arm transformed into a huge, deadly looking blade as he held it at the neck of his attacker, finally able to take in their appearance.

His attacker looked a lot like the Red Hulk, except he looked to be a little slimmer, and had incredibly sharp, black nails (claws) and teeth.

Then, the beast said something that shocked Jeremiah to his core.

"Her champion must die!" The beast snarled, eyes completely black.

And then, there was a huge burst of energy.

Finally finished.

It took me longer than I thought it would to write this chapter, partially due to the Straw Hats being surprisingly hard to write. Speaking of, if I'm being honest, I kind of lost interest in writing about them, maybe halfway through this chapter, which may show in the way I quickly skimmed through Luffy and Chopper's fights (which I do apologize for, since I know some people were looking forward to Luffy's beat down of Wapol). However, I'll admit that I do feel a little bad about cutting out Luffy's climbing up to the castle. That was one of his greatest moments in the series, but he simply didn't need to do it here.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Straw Hats, but this is not their story. Thus, this is the last time I'll be having the story spend multiple chapter focused on a crew that isn't New Dawn.

Moving on, what'd you guys think about the end of the chapter? I've been wanting to do this for a while, so it's nice to be finally getting to it.Hmm... I don't think I really have anything else to say this time. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Be sure to leave lots of comments/reviews.

Til next time, guys.

P.S. Nobody got back to me on if you all would like for me to start releasing chapters in bursts of 2-3 at a time. I'd appreciate feedback on this.