Disclaimer I do not own the rights to any Mario characters or One Piece characters
Chapter 9: Nami's Sickness, In Search of a Cure
We cut back to the straw hats as Sanji began to explain how he knew about Mister Three.
"As for how I know about Mister Three I came upon this strange building in the middle of the jungle." Sanji began to explain.
Flash back to Sanji in the jungle
"Damnit, the volcano went off and I don't have any big game. Crap I'm gonna lose the bet with Zoro." Sanji said in frustration. He continued to walk until he came upon Mister Three's wax hideout. As he checked inside, he saw it was abandoned and decided to make himself at home. After he made some tea he found, he sat down and began to relax. After a few minutes he suddenly snapped up.
"Ah crap, what am I doing? I don't have time for this. Nami, Vivi and the others could be out there waiting for my help." Sanji said to himself. Suddenly a nearby transponder snail began to ring. Sanji picked it up and answered, "Yeah, hello, you've reached the crap café can I take your order?"
"You can quit fooling around now, jackass." A mysterious voice on the other end answered back. "Now then, your report is a little bit late don't you think."
"My report you say, and to whom exactly am I speaking please."
"Me, Mister Zero. Well, your report? When I ask a question, I expect an answer. Have you eliminated Vivi and the straw hats.?"
Sanji realizing who he is speaking with decided to take advantage of the situation. "Oh yeah, I eliminated those brats for you."
"So straw hat and his friends are dead, and you've retrieved the power star from red cap?"
"Yep, killed them dead, and I got the power star right here."
"Good, then wait for the unluckies to deliver a package."
"The unluckies, right. And the package?"
"It's an eternal pose to Alabasta. Once you have it you and Miss Golden Week are to return to base. It's time to begin the second phase of the plan."
"Right, you got it." Sanji replied. As he turned to the window, he saw a large vulture and an otter watching him. Suddenly the vulture opened its wings and began to fire mini gatling guns at Sanji. Sanji ducked out of the way, but then the otter brought out two sets of claws. Sanji dodged and delivered a kick to the back of the otter's head, slamming it against the wall. The vulture then began to shoot at Sanji again until he got under it and twisted its neck with his legs.
"Hey, what was that?" Mister Zero asked from the transponder snail.
"Nothing sir, it's just straw hat Luffy. He wasn't as dead as I thought, but I took care of it." Sanji quickly explained.
"What!? So, you lied?"
"It's not like that, just made a mistake is all."
"Whatever, just head back to Alabasta once you get the package." CLICK, Mister Zero then hung up. As Sanji put down the transponder snail, he picked up a package from the now dead vulture and found the eternal pose to Alabasta.
Flashback ends and we cut back to the present
"And that's what happened." Sanji finished explaining. "I figured since I had his ear I might as well tell him that we're dead."
"So now that Mister Zero thinks we're dead he will stop sending agents after us." Vivi clarified, receiving a nod from Sanji.
"Oh great, so now we have no one chasing us anymore and we can't leave anyways. Oh, that's just perfect." Usopp yelled in despair.
"What, we can't leave yet? Is there still something we need to take care of? And after I went through all the trouble of getting this." Sanji stated as he pulled out an eternal pose to Alabasta. Everyone just stood there in shock at Sanji's possession. "What is it?" Sanji asked in confusion of everyone's expression.
"Alright an eternal pose to Alabasta! Now we can set sail!" Luffy shouted in happiness as Vivi rushed up and hugged Sanji.
"Thank you so much Sanji!"
"You're welcome Vivi. I'm just happy to help." Sanji replied with hearts in his eyes.
"Well, that's good to hear." Mario said as he came out of the jungle.
"There you are Mario. What were you doing anyways?" Luffy asked.
"I was fixing the warp pipe so DK and his family can go home. Just came to see if you all wanted to see them off." Mario asked everyone. They all nodded their heads and followed Mario into the jungle, some curious as to what a warp pipe is and others wanting to say goodbye to the Kongs. When they finally reached their destination, they saw the Kongs throwing the last of their banana stash into a large green pipe.
"So, you're finally leaving DK?" Dory asked getting nods from the Kongs.
"What is that thing?" Zoro asked looking at the large green pipe.
"It's a warp pipe, just jump in and you will be sent to wherever the other end is located. In this case back at Kongo Bongo, DK's home." Mario explained. DK then began to talk in a series of chitters and grunts while pointing towards Dory and Broggy. "Oh, and he says if you two ever find yourself in our world you're more than welcome to visit his island." Mario translated to Dory and Broggy.
"Well, if we ever do, we'll be sure to visit." Dory said as he and Broggy began to laugh.
"Thank you DK and I hope you and you're family get home safe." Vivi said receiving a smile from the Kongs.
"Hey wait a minute. Give me back my cigarettes you stupid ape!" Sanji yelled at Cranky Kong, who threw Sanji's cigarettes at his face while making more flatulence noises. "Why you." Sanji said in anger before Mario stopped him.
"Just let it go Sanji, he's an old ape. He just likes to mess with people, I'm sure you know the type." Mario explained while Sanji lit up a cigarette and took in a big puff.
"Yeah, I do, unfortunately." Sanji said in understanding. And with that the Kongs bid farewell to everyone as they went down the warp pipe. Mario then slammed his hammer on the warp pipe breaking it and causing it to shrink down. He then picked up the broken off warp pipe and put it in his pocket.
"Mario, what did you do that for?" Vivi asked.
"Well, my world is an entire universe away from yours. I really can't leave a warp pipe formed by accident here. It could cause further problems, trust me, there are some villains in my world you really don't want to meet." Mario explained.
"And why did you pick up the broken pipe? Can't leave that lying around?" Zoro asked.
"Nope, it's too dangerous to leave this just lying around here. Plus, it could be useful, if I can find another pipe and pick it up, I can then use both of them in tandem to create shortcuts. Like right now if I had left a warp pipe back on the Merry, we could just use this one to warp us there instead of walking." Mario finished explaining causing everyone's jaws to drop at the extremely useful item Mario has just acquired.
"Alright let's go find another one!" Luffy shouted.
"Like it's going to be that easy Luffy." Nami replied in annoyance. As she was walking away Mario stopped her.
"Nami, let me see your belly for a moment." Mario said as he lifted up Sanji's jacket to show Nami's stomach, much to her surprise and Sanji's anger. "When did you get this?" Mario asked, pointing to a red mark on her stomach.
"Oh that? I think a bug bit me a little while ago. It's no big deal." Nami said nonchalantly.
"Still, just to be safe, I would like to examine it further when we get back to the Merry."
"Okay doc, now let's go everybody." Nami called out getting everyone to start heading back to the ship. Then Sanji walked up to Zoro.
"Hey mosshead, didn't forget about our little hunting contest, did you?"
"Nope, hate to tell you, but I caught a beast about this big." Zoro declared, stretching out his arms to show the size of his catch.
"Just that big? Then I win easily with my kill." Sanji retorted while walking past Zoro. Meanwhile Dory and Broggy begin to think.
"Hunting contest, now why does that sound familiar?" they thought to themselves. Back at the Merry while everyone is getting ready to set sail, Sanji and Zoro are arguing over who has the better catch.
"See? Mine's longer so I win mosshead."
"So what? Mine is obviously thicker and yours doesn't even have horns!"
"Why does that matter moron!?" Sanji yelled back at Zoro, until Nami ran up to the railing and started to yell at them.
"Who cares which one is better!? Just cut up what we need and get on the ship!" she ordered.
"But Nami…"
"No buts! Just do it or else!"
"Yes Nami!" Zoro and Sanji said in unison. They then cut up the dinosaurs and loaded up all the meat they could before setting off.
"Is that it? Can't you load up more?" Luffy complained.
"Are you trying to sink the ship you moron?" Nami said in annoyance.
"Sorry captain, but I have to agree." Sanji said in agreement. As they sailed out both Broggy and Dory were at the river exit to bid farewell to the straw hats. After a few hours of sailing Mario finished examining Nami's bug bite.
"Well, since your not showing any symptoms right now, you can get back to navigating. But I'll be keeping a close eye on you, just in case." Mario said to Nami.
"Okay Mario, now let's go to Alabasta!" Nami said with a cheer to show she was okay.
A few days later on the Merry
Everyone was relaxing when Mario jumped down from the upper deck to where Nami was.
"Oh, hey Mario. How's it going?" Nami weakly said. Mario just scooped her up and proceeded to walk up the stairs. "Mario! What are you doing?"
"You're sick Nami, so I'm taking you to bed for rest."
"Come on Mario, I'm fine." Nami tried to protest.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Mario said while he held up two fingers.
"Mario, you don't need to…"
"How many fingers Nami?"
"Ugh fine, um… four." Nami answered. Mario just shook his head.
"Two Nami. You're sick, now let's-a go." Mario stated as he took Nami to her bed. When he laid her down Luffy, Vivi and Sanji were watching and waiting for Nami's diagnosis.
"Well Mario? How is she?" Luffy asked.
"Not good, it's just as I feared. That bug bite left behind some bacteria or virus that's making Nami sick. And what's worse is the fact that I have never seen this type of sickness before. It's a disease that doesn't exist in my world." Mario explained shocking everyone. They all just stood there until Sanji ran up and grabbed Mario by his collar.
"Don't say that! You're our doctor, that means that when Nami is sick you do anything and everything to make her better!" Sanji yelled at Mario. Mario then grabbed onto Sanji's wrists.
"Let me go Sanji." Mario demanded. Sanji was about to say something else when Mario squeezed his wrists making Sanji let go. "I'm doing everything I can Sanji, but none of my medicine would work. It might make things worse if I give her the wrong type of medicine."
"What about your other stuff?" Luffy asked. "Come on, you're a star child from another world you got to have something to help her." Mario just stood there in pondering until he had an idea.
"Well, there is one thing, Starlow!" Mario then pulled out a green mushroom. "Starlow, use the power star so this 1-up mushroom will work on Nami."
"Right!" Starlow said in understanding. Everyone just looked at the strange mushroom until Vivi broke the silence.
"Mario, what is that?"
"This is a 1-up shroom, it gives me a second life." Mario explained, however he only confused everyone even more. "Okay, let me explain. If I were to just keel over right now and I had this mushroom in my pocket, it would bring me back to life."
"So, you're going to use that on Nami?" Sanji asked.
"Yes, but I have to use it at the right time." Mario stated. "If I use it too early it'll have no effect since Nami isn't dead. But if I use it too late it'll still have no effect since, she would have passed into the after life already. I need to use it at the exact moment of her death." Mario finished explaining causing everyone shock.
"Is that our only option?" Vivi asked.
"For now, yes, but I think we should still look for a doctor in some nearby town or island. Hopefully they'll know what disease this is and have a cure or at least know how to make the cure." Mario stated getting nods from everyone in the room. Meanwhile outside it began to snow and as Usopp and Zoro dressed in warmer clothes Zoro noticed something out in the ocean.
"Hey Usopp, is that what I think it is?" Zoro asked Usopp. Usopp then looked out to where Zoro was pointing, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. A man just standing in the middle of the ocean.
"Yeah um, how is that possible?" Usopp wondered as they got closer to the strange man.
"Good day gentleman, fine day we're having isn't it." The strange man with zig zag lips greeted.
"Well, it's actually kind of chilly today." Usopp responded.
"It is?" the strange man replied. Suddenly something large began to rise out of the water. It was then revealed that the strange man was standing on top of a large ship that was hiding beneath the water. Back in the bedroom Mario and Sanji were keeping Nami's bed stable while the ship was rocking back and forth.
"Damnit, what are those morons doing?" Sanji asked in frustration.
"I'll go check." Luffy said as he ran outside. After a few minutes of nothing Mario and Sanji grew frustrated.
"Vivi, please keep watch over Nami." Mario asked as he and Sanji went to go see what was happening. As soon as they stepped outside guns were thrusted in their faces.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Sanji asked as he took a puff of his cigarette.
"Oh, we're being robbed." Luffy stated nonchalantly.
"Yeah, I can see that. But by who?" Sanji asked. He was soon answered as a large man with what look like metal implants and a hippo hat started laughing.
"Oh, come on, don't tell me you were surprised by our raiding ship." The metal man said as he ate some meat off a dagger. He then bit off the dagger and proceeded to swallow the hilt with it.
"What the hell?"
"My gums are bleeding just by watching." Usopp said as he covered his mouth.
"Devil fruit powers." Mario stated as he examined the metal man.
"You are correct mustache man, I ate the Munch-Munch fruit and became a Munch Man. Now I can eat pretty much anything. Now, back to business, you see me, and my men are trying to get to Drum Kingdom and we're a bit lost. You folks wouldn't happen to have a log pose or an eternal pose to Drum Kingdom, would you?"
"Drum Kingdom, never heard of it." Sanji answered. "Now do you mind getting off our ship?"
"If you have neither pose it can't be helped, I'll just take your ship and all your treasure instead." The metal man stated before he took a bite out of the railing.
"Hey stop that!" Luffy demanded.
"Quiet you!" the soldier next to him ordered. That's when the straw hats began to fight back and started knocking out soldiers one by one. After Mario beat the soldiers surrounding him, he leapt at the metal man. The metal man suddenly turned and opened up his jaw to Mario. Mario just smiled and pulled on his glove as the metal man swallowed him.
"Mario!" Luffy called out as Sanji, Usopp and Zoro just stood in shock that Mario was swallowed whole. Meanwhile the men on the other ship were laughing.
"Aww, he just went down my throat. I didn't get to taste him at all, what a waste. All right who's next… AGH!" the metal man suddenly screamed in pain as he fell to his knees while holding his stomach.
"Wapol sir, are you alright?" an afro man from the enemy ship asked.
"You let me inside of you, bad move." Mario said from inside of Wapol. "Now I can start destroying you from the inside. Like this, it looks important." CRACK! Wapol suddenly let out another yell of pain as he held onto his right side. "Are these your kidneys? You'll be peeing blood for a week." POW! Wapol let out another cry of pain as he fell on his back and held his sides.
"HE'S INSIDE OF ME! HE'S KILLING ME FROM INSIDE!" Wapol screamed.
"What do we do?" the zig zag lip man asked his companion.
"We help him obviously. Go, the twenty M.D.s!" the afro man called out. Suddenly twenty doctors came from the enemy ship and surrounded Wapol, who was still yelling in pain.
"That's it, get out of me!" Wapol yelled as he spit up Mario. Mario landed back on the Merry and grew back to his original size. "You bastard, I'll make you pay for that."
"What are you going to do, eat me again?" Mario taunted making Wapol even angrier.
"Chess, did I eat a cannon earlier?" Wapol asked the zig zag lipped man.
"Yes, you did sir. You ate a cannon raw with a nice cannonball and gunpowder side salad." Chess answered.
"Good, now Munch-Munch cannon!" Wapol called out as his arm transformed into a cannon and fired a cannonball at Mario. Mario just reflected it back with his cape. "What!?" Wapol yelled as he was struck by his own cannon ball. As he lied unconscious the doctors around him were about to help when,
"Move!" Mario yelled as he came down with a fire coated fist. The doctors all moved out of the way when Mario slammed his fist into Wapol. Mario then picked up Wapol's charred and unconscious body. He began to swing him around before launching him into the horizon. His men just stood there in shock until Chess broke the silence.
"Oh no this is bad."
"He has a devil fruit he won't be able to swim." His afro wearing companion explained.
"Quickly men! We need to save Wapol before he sinks to the bottom of the ocean." All the soldiers and doctors began to run back up the ladder to the enemy ship when Mario grabbed one of the doctors.
"Not you, you stay." Mario said, drawing the ire of Wapol's men.
"Now you abduct one of our doctors? Curse you, mustache man." The afro man yelled.
"You better pray Wapol is okay, or else you'll all pay. We swear it." Chess yelled as Wapol's ship sailed off after him. After they left Mario then pulled the doctor over to the bedroom.
"Who is that Mario?" Vivi asked.
"Our friend in the bed is sick and I don't know what disease is causing it, so you're going to help us." Mario demanded as he threw the doctor towards Nami. After some more "persuasion" from Sanji the doctor began to examine Nami.
"It's the Five-Day disease. How did she even get this? The tick that delivers it should be extinct." The doctor explained.
"That doesn't matter, what matters is the cure. How do we get it?" Mario asked the doctor.
"This disease was supposed to have gone extinct long ago, no one has the cure now." the doctor explained. As Sanji began to approach him in anger, he quickly thought of something. "Wait, wait, wait, I remember! Back at Drum there was this witch who was said to have all manner of medicines and tonics. If anyone has the cure it would be her."
"I guess we're going to Drum Kingdom after all. Is that okay with you Vivi?" Mario asked.
"Yes, it's fine. I want to get to Alabasta as soon as possible, but not at the expense of Nami's life." Vivi explained. And with that everyone prepared to sail to Drum Kingdom. With the map of the Grand Line, and some help from their captured doctor they were able to chart a course to Drum Kingdom. After some sailing, they finally reached the river leading inland, however they were soon surround on all sides by armed men.
"Well, that's a warm welcome." Sanji stated.
"Leave now pirates! Your kind aren't welcomed here, so keep sailing out of our country." The leader of the group, a tall, well-built man with a green jacket, demanded of the straw hat pirates.
"Please, we don't mean any harm. One of our crew mates is sick and we heard there was someone here who has the cure." Vivi pleaded.
"Do you think we would fall for such tricks? You'll find we aren't so gullible." The man retorted.
"But it's not a lie! Please, she'll die if we don't get her the cure soon." Vivi pleaded once again. However, the leader would not budge and just stared ominously at the straw hats. Then one of the more jittery members of his group suddenly shot his gun at Vivi. Mario quickly leapt in front of her, catching the bullet and burning it in his hands.
"Devil fruit powers! Stay on guard everyone!" the leader ordered his men. Mario then began to walk forward.
"Mario don't!" Vivi called out, but Mario's action took everyone by surprise. He got down on his hands and knees and began to beg.
"Please, you may not believe us, but we truly mean you no harm. One of our crew members is truly dying and we need a cure quickly or she will die. So, I beg of you, can you please let us on your island." Mario begged, all the straw hats stood dumbfounded until Vivi also got on her hands and knees and began to beg as well. With that all the straw hats followed suit. It seemed to work as the leader's expression softened.
"You all seem so strong, yet you beg for help. You truly leave me no choice but to believe your story. However, before I let you into our country, how do you know the cure is here? Drum may have been renowned for its medical expertise, but we have never had a cure no one else did." The leader asked.
"Well, someone told us of a witch who lived here who may have the cure." Mario explained as he went inside and dragged out the doctor they captured.
"That's one of the twenty M.D.s!" one of the armed men shouted.
"How did you find him?" the leader asked.
"Some weirdo named Wapol attacked us. So, we fought back and captured one of his doctors to try and help our crew mate." Mario explained. Suddenly everyone on the island began to speak in hushed whispers about what Mario had just said.
"And what happened to Wapol?" the leader asked.
"Oh, I beat him up and sent him flying off into the horizon. His men then left after him to try and rescue him before he drowned." Mario explained causing all the islanders to stand in shock at his story.
"Quickly then, come on shore. It seems we have much to talk about." The leader stated as he waved to his men to guide the straw hats inland.
"Mario, thank you for not fighting them." Vivi said in gratitude.
"It's-a no problem Vivi. Remember what I said? There's a time and a place for fighting and talking." Mario replied receiving a nod and a smile from Vivi. When they finally dropped anchor and went onshore, it was decided Zoro and Karoo would stay behind and watch the ship while the others went inland to find the witch. Mario was carrying Nami as they were walking and some of the other men grabbed the doctor and took him somewhere else.
"It looks like something happened to your country recently." Mario stated as he observed all the damaged buildings they were passing.
"Yes, sorry for the earlier confrontation, but a few months ago a group of pirates came and ravaged our lands." The leader explained.
"That's okay mister?" Vivi asked.
"Dalton."
"Right Dalton, it's okay. With what happened to you and your country we can't blame you for being suspicious of us. But why was everyone shocked when we mentioned Wapol?" Dalton suddenly stopped in his tracks at Vivi's question.
"It's because Wapol use to be the king of this country. But when the pirates attacked, he took his men and fled." Dalton explained.
"Wow, so after the pirates beat his army, he took what was left and ran away. Even if he was losing that's still cowardly." Usopp stated.
"No, he didn't fight. When the pirates arrived, he and his men were the first to flee. They didn't even try to protect the kingdom." Dalton explained with anger in his voice.
"What kind of king is that!?" Vivi yelled. "A king who abandons his own people so easily is no king at all, they're just cowards." Vivi stated with such conviction causing Dalton to stand in awe of her.
"Excuse me, but you seem familiar. Have we met?" Dalton asked.
"Oh, no I just have one of those faces." Vivi replied getting control of herself.
"Well, if you say so." Dalton said as he continued to lead the group to a nearby home. "Still, even though the pirates attack was devasting it may have been a blessing in disguise. You see, since then Wapol has not returned, and we have begun to rebuild ourselves into a better country."
They continued walking until they reached the house. Once inside, Mario place Nami on the bed and began to treat her as best he can. While he was doing that Sanji began to ask Dalton about this witch, they heard so much about while Usopp and Luffy play outside.
"Yes, her name is Doctor Kureha. And despite being called a witch she's actually a doctor. People call her a witch though because she comes down from the mountain on a sled pulled by a strange creature."
"You mean straight down the slope?" Sanji asked.
"No, through the air." Dalton explained shocking Sanji and Vivi.
"Well, I can see why they call her a witch then. And you say she's on top of the mountain." Sanji asked as he looked out the window, only to see it blocked by Luffy and Usopp's snowman. After destroying the snowman and giving Luffy and Usopp a few bumps on the head, he continued to question Dalton. "So, what else can you tell us about her."
"Just that she can be a bit eccentric. And that while she'll do everything she can to cure you, she'll take everything you own as payment."
"Well, we'll have to discuss that with her later. Nami's condition is getting worse so let's-a go." Mario said as he picked up Nami. "She's at the top of the mountain, right? I'll take her there myself."
"Not by yourself your not." Sanji stated as he followed Mario. Once outside they explained everything to Luffy and he said he would also go. Usopp, Vivi and Dalton watched them as they ran off up the mountain. That is when someone from the village came running up.
"Dalton!" he called out.
"What is it?"
"Well, the witch those pirates were looking for, it turns out she's here in Cocorei treating a child."
"What!? So Luffy and the others already passed her!" Usopp screamed.
"This is bad, we have to let them know." Vivi stated.
"How?" Usopp asked. "Damnit, we just have to hope that when they get there they don't leave just because she's not there, or else they may miss her again." He stated as he Vivi and Dalton looked to where Luffy and the others ran to.
Back out at sea outside of Drum Kingdom
Chess, the strange man from earlier, was looking out of a telescope when he spotted the peaks of Drum Kingdom.
"Wapol sir, I found it. It's Drum Kingdom! How many months has it been since we've been home." Chess said with tears in his eyes.
"Really? You found it! Good work!" Wapol yelled in glee. "Finally, I can reclaim my kingdom." He said as he began to laugh hysterically.