A/N: hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Usopp could see that Luffy was struggling, trying his hardest to get away from drinking the tea and constantly repeating 'this tea is delicious' over and over again. The strain that his muscles seemed to be under was insane.

The others were now almost fully hardened wax statues, breathing even more shallow than it had been before. They weren't able to speak so whatever verbal help they would have been able to give to Luffy, Carue and Usopp was now none at all.

Mr Five and Miss Valentine were causing havoc and he couldn't get near enough Luffy to free him without getting tagged by Miss Goldenweek's colours himself. He could, however, aim towards Luffy.

"Take this!"

Miss Goldenweek looked scared, but Miss Valentine had no idea what was going on.

"Are you that stupid? That's your own captain!"

"EXPLOSIVE BREATH!" The bullet that had been fired by Mr Five suddenly exploded.

"Tch, forgot to tell you my breath was explosive too."

Usopp and Carue lay face first on the ground, clothes charred.

"You okay, Carue?"

There was an affirming noise that sounded like a cough coming from the duck.

"Oi, Luffy! You awake yes!"

"Yes! That stupid sign can't do anything to me now!"

Miss Valentine finally understood what Usopp had actually done. "He aimed at his friend to destroy the colour trap?"

Luffy, now breathing heavily but on his feet.

"I won't let anyone die! It's payback time!"

Sanji wasn't happy.

He'd been waiting awhile back at the Going Merry and the meeting time that the crew had set had been and past.

"There must be something wrong with Nami-san, Vivi-chan and Ebony-san. I can't cook this giant lizard yet, then." He hopped off of the ship, "Better go and find them."

He made his way back into the depths of the forest covered island, calling the names of the female members of his crew more often than what he called the male members of the crew. Along the way, he managed to corral the help a large sabre-toothed tiger, only with a little persuasion.

"What's this?" Jumping off of the tiger, which took off back into the wild, Sanji found himself staring at what looked to be a small box house made from dripping and hardened wax. Entering inside, he found the kettle on the stove and some tea sitting on top of a table.

The tea on the table was tempting Sanji to stop and have a break, but he had to shake himself out of it and bring himself back to the present moment.

"No time for a tea break! The girls are waiting for my help. Too bad though, why is this oddly comfortable room unlocked in the middle of this jungle?"

Purupurupurupurupuru! Purupurupurupurupuru!

The sound of a den-den sushi wasn't difficult to mistake and so Sanji picked it up and answered.

"Hello, this is the shitty restaurant, what would you like to order?"

The voice on the other side shouted back, "Stop playing around you idiot! Why haven't you sent me a report?"

Sanji lounged at the table, getting comfortable and just managed to resist putting his feet up on the table.

"Report? Umm, you are you?"

"It's me," said the voice. "Mr Zero."

Sanji's blood went cold. This was the big boss? They were in serious trouble now.

"It's already been quite a while since I sent my orders, so what is your status Mr Three?"

Sanji wasn't quite sure what to say but had realised that the house that he was in currently was the enemy's hideout and that they were here to hunt the Princess Vivi down.

"What are you being so silent for? I'm asking you a question." The voice of Mr Zero sounded angry, "Have you eliminated the Princess and the Straw Hat Pirates or not?"

This was his moment, get the rest of Baroque Works off of their backs for a bit before the head honcho realised that they were still alive.

"Yes, I've carried out my mission alright. All the people who know of your secret are no more, so there isn't a need for further pursuit."

He hoped that that actually worked and held his breath; hopefully, the warlord couldn't read emotions through the damn snail.

"I see, yes good work. The unluckies are headed your way. Once they confirm your successful mission, they'll hand you a certain package."

Shit, Sanji had forgotten about the unluckies, they would ruin the lie before they had a chance to run.

"A package?"

"That's right. An eternal pose to Alabasta. Once you've received it, head to Alabasta with Miss Goldenweek immediately." Mr Zero took a breath, "The time has come, we must carry out the crucial step of the plan. Await further details once you arrive at Alabasta."

Sanji heard a tapping on the windows. The unluckies had arrived.

"What the hell?"

"What's the matter?" He had forgotten that Mr Zero was still on the line.

"Nothings the mat…." And the unluckies attacked, cutting off Sanji's answer to the head of Baroque Works.

The vulture dive bombed towards him, Sanji barely managing to get out of the way in time enough to dodge.

"What the hell are they?" Dodging out of the way of the other one, he raised his leg up high and brought it down, causing the floor to dent. "You trying to kill me now? You've got some balls you dirty little four-eyed monkey!"

The first unlucky was taken out with a swift kick to the head, whilst the vulture cleverly flew out of the way and managed to take a photo of Sanji while it did so.

"Didn't I tell you to quit it, you overgrown chicken?" Sanji twisted and leapt, stomping on top of the vultures head, knocking it out cold.

"What happened?"

Sanji shakily grabbed onto the receiver and started speaking. "It's really nothing, I had to finish off one of the Straw Hats. Turns out that they weren't as dead as I thought."

"One of them was alive?" Crap. "Didn't you say you had completed your mission?"

"Well, I thought that I had but one was hanging on a bit more than I thought."

"So you lied and gave me a false report when I first spoke to you."

"I suppose that's the technical truth, but he is finished off for good. There's no need to pursue them further." He waited a moment, "Capiche?"

"Fine," Mr Zero said with much reluctance. "Just head straight for Alabasta. This will be our final communication, as I cannot risk Marine involvement or interference. From here on, all orders will be delivered in the traditional manner. Godspeed Mr Three."

And with that Mr Zero, Sir Crocodile hung up. Sanji let out a great sigh of relief, he couldn't believe that he had just managed to pull that off.

"He hung up. So what the hell were these things? Right, the unluckies." He stood up and started to walk away when the eternal pose that they had been delivering rolled in his path. "I should take this and give it to Nami-swan!"

All I could see was black. I couldn't hear anything other than my heartbeat, drumming faster as I was starting to have a panic attack. This was the worst, I couldn't do anything, and being trapped in my own mind was probably the worst possible thing for me at the moment, especially in the midst of a panic attack.

In what felt like an eternity, the fight must have been successful as all of a sudden all I could feel was heat and the wax started to melt and melt fast.

"Honestly, that was super hot." "It's really hot, didn't you have a better way to do it Usopp?"

"Nami, Ebony, stop complaining. I just saved your lives."

"That's true, thank you Usopp." I had to thank him, it would feel wrong if I didn't.

"Thanks."

"It's pretty unbelievable that we're still alive to be perfectly honest." Vivi was coughing pretty heavily, so I patted on her on the back hoping that it would help.

"You lot are real troublemakers." Mr Five pointed a gun towards us.

"Take this!" Usopp slingshotted a bullet towards Mr Five, who immediately swallowed it.

Jackpot.

"I already showed you that gunpowder doesn't do anything to me!"

"Did you eat it?" Usopp grinned. "That's not a bullet, nor is it gunpowder. Enjoy the hot sauce alright?"

Mr Five's face turned bright red and beads of sweat started to drip down from his temples.

"ARRGGGGHHHH! HOT! HOT! HOT!"

"I know right? I've tried it before!" Usopp was so pleased with himself for his ingenuity.

"You stupid pirates! I'll take you out with me!" Mr Five dove towards Usopp but was intercepted by Zoro and his flaming swords.

"Flame swords aren't bad." "Zoro!"

"Being alive is the happiest thing in this world right?"

"I'll give you that, Zoro." I gave him a thumbs up, to which he grinned murderously at.

Usopp looked up at the bloodied giant, who was grinning and laughing. "You're right."

"Teacher?"

"There are two more enemies?"

Carue and Luffy by this point had taken off after Mr Three, while the rest of us could hear a lot of noise and screaming following. They came back a few moments later, triumphant in their return.

"Not bad for a day's work, eh Captain?" I was stretching out my legs after they had been cramped up from the wax, any longer in that and not only would I have been dead but my legs in excruciating pain if I hadn't died by that point.

Broggy let out an earsplitting cry, big fat tears falling and causing us to cover our ears.

"It's so energetic!"

"More like a waterfall."

"You can see a rainbow behind him!"

The original three Straw Hats were frowning up at the giant as they spoke.

"My ears…" Vivi clamped down on her ears harder, trying to block out as much noise as she could and failing spectacularly.

"He's super loud, anyone could hear him." And someone did.

Dorry had woken up from his forced slumber and now the two giants were hugging each other. Broggy just being happy that his friend hadn't died.

"Don't hug him too hard, he's still injured." I commented at the same time as Dorry stated: "Not so hard, my wounds…"

"You little ones helped us out back there," Nami and I had tried to break the two fighting giants apart in a similar manner to what we did for Sanji and Zoro but it was difficult with the incredible size difference. "If there's anything we can do to thank you?"

Dorry started to laugh, "I'd completely forgotten that we had bounties on our heads!"

Vivi was downtrodden, "It was originally my fault that those agents came to this island…"

Before she could go any further along that train of thought, I punched her shoulder. "Don't even think about it, no one is blaming you for anything."

And as if to prove my point Usopp and Luffy asked her if she wanted to eat anything.

"See?" Nami pointed a thumb at them.

"YEAH! PARTY TIME!"

"PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!"

I wandered over to Zoro, who had been wrapping his ankles up tightly.

"I still can't believe you tried to cut your feet off."

"It sounded like a good idea at the time.."

"And now?"

"Eh? I wouldn't take it back."

"Didn't think that you would, you sure that they're wrapped up tight enough though?"

"They'll be fine."

We sat in silence for a moment.

"We're in trouble if we have to wait a year for the log pose to reset."

"Exactly!"

"Can you guys do anything about that?" Vivi looked up at the giants, who shook their heads.

"Unfortunately week can't do anything about that."

"HELLO! NAMI! VIVI! EBONY! And the rest!" Sanji's voice came from the forest.

"Now he shows up?"

"He was probably waiting for us back at the ship, I mean we did miss the meetup time., Usopp."

"Hey! Sanji!" Luffy was waving frantically at his cook.

Sanji looked shocked at the sight of the giants, having never seen one (or two as the case may be) and shouted something about Mr Three.

"How did you know about Mr Three, Sanji?"

He went on to explain that he'd been speaking to the big boss.

"So you told him that we were dead?"

"Yes and he seemed to believe it."

"That's a good thing." I stood up and started to pace. "Now only if we had an eternal pose to get off of this island."

"You mean this?" Sanj held out an open palm with the eternal pose sitting on it.

"I could kiss you Sanji!" Vivi yelled and jumped at Sanji, hugging the breath out of him.

"I wouldn't object." I coughed into my hand, warning him not to try anything. "But I'm glad it makes you happy." He quickly backtracked, even with hearts in his eyes.

Luffy opened his mouth and I could almost guarantee that he was going to suggest to start partying again, but I put my foot down. "No parties at the moment, Captain."

He pouted at me, "Not even a little one?"

"Not even a little one, we've got to get going, Captain. Nami's getting antsy and Vivi has to get home."

He sighed and bargained, "Later then?"

"Later, Captain."

He cheered and gave me a hug, knocking the air out of me; I managed to catch him and he was gone as soon as he had hugged me chanting party, party, party hurrying back to the ship, shouting his goodbyes to the giants who were grinning wide.

"Moss head, you haven't forgotten about our hunting contest have you?"

"Not a chance, cook, not a chance. I'm pretty sure I've won it."

Zoro stretched his arms out wide, "I caught a rhino about this big."

"Can you even eat that thing?"

"We won't know until you cook it."

I could tell that the two of them were gearing up to start another argument.

"Honestly, boys."

"Busy things aren't you?"

"It's a shame, but we won't ask you to stay any longer," Dorry turned to Vivi and spoke. "I hope that your country is safe, Princess."

"Thank you."

The others continued to shout their goodbyes, slowly making their way back to the forest but I stopped behind for a moment.

"Would it be okay if I left behind this den-den mushi? It'd be cool if we could talk throughout our journey."

The two giants looked at each other, having a silent conversation that I wasn't privy to.

"We'll take it! We don't hear much from the outside world, so it'll be nice to speak with friends that are out there." Dorry reached down a hand and I placed the snail into it.

I started to walk away when Broggy called out to me.

"You know that your friends won't care that you're an Outlier."

I froze up. How could they possibly know?

"Don't worry, we won't say anything."

"How did you know?"

"Your eyes, we had a human friend with eyes just like yours. People from here don't have eyes like that, so it's probably a good thing you keep yours mostly covered."

"My eyes gave me away?"

"That and the way you move. Not many people would notice, but we're old and have seen a lot."

"Be safe little Outlier."

"I'll try my best, thank you."

And with those troubling words, I left the two giants behind.

"Boys! You're both pretty, now stop arguing and get these onto the ship!"

I had gotten back to the ship to find Sanji and Zoro almost brawling over their kills.

"They'll be tasty!"

"Luffy, stay out of this!" "Shut it, Ebony!"

"Besides, we can't carry that much meat, so just pack up what we need and let's get going!"

"As you wish, Nami-swan!"

Gathering as much meat as we needed, and a little extra because we knew the Captain would eat triple the amount (or more) than the rest of us would. Lifting the anchor, we were ready to set sail.

"Heading straight from here, we should be able to exit on the western side of the island."

Nami was pragmatic about the whole situation. Luffy on the other hand, "Do you think we should have packed more of the meat?"

"Don't worry Captain, I added a bit more for you."

"Thank you, Ebony!"

"Not too much though Ebony? We don't want to sink the ship."

"No, I didn't add too much. If he wants more meat though, I can always go with smaller meat portions."

Sanji looked at me, concerned. "I don't want you starving yourself, and neither would Luffy."

"It wouldn't be starving me, just give me whatever vegetables and sides that the Captain won't eat and it'll be good."

Sanji looked as though he wasn't going to drop the subject, but thought that it would probably be best picked up at a later time, one when they weren't trying to get away from the island.

"The Giants have come to see us off!" Luffy pointed towards the two giants, standing guard at the entrance of the waterway.

"There's a reason why little people very rarely get off of the island." "And do not reach the next island that lay ahead."

"What?"

"You all risked your lives so that our prides may remain intact."

"Thus, in turn, no matter the foe. We will not let your flag of pride be tarnished either."

What I wouldn't have done to have these guys at Pride; they'd be fantastic guards and probably would have joined in the celebrations.

"Trust in us and sail straight ahead. And no matter what, sail straight ahead only."

"Got it! Sail straight ahead!"

"Let us meet again in the future!" "You have our dial code!"

"Eh?" Luffy turned and looked at me, thinking I had the answer to that last one. I did, but the fact that he was that intuitive about it meant a lot.

"I gave them a den-den mushi so that we can keep in contact."

"How many of those have you got?"

"I'm not actually sure, to be honest. I'll have to count them."

"Look up ahead!"

It looked as if the ocean was rising up to meet us, as a large wave was building and something was threatening to break through the surface of the water.

"The Island Devourer, you've come!" "In the name of Elbaf, we view to clear a path!"

The Island Devourer was an incredibly large fish, it's mouth opening wide as a flood of water went rushing down its throat, sending the Going Merry towards its gullet.

"IS THAT A SEA KING?" "WHAT IS THAT THING?"

"EVERYONE GRAB A HOLD!" We all rushed to grab onto something solid, myself wrapping my arms around the mast.

"USOPP, THE HELM!"

"IS THAT A GIANT GOLDFISH?" He looked puzzled for a moment, "I THINK I'VE HEARD OF A GIANT GOLDFISH BEFORE!"

"USOPP HURRY!" Nami was beginning to get frustrated that Usopp didn't seem to be listening to her.

"WE'RE STILL GOING STRAIGHT AHEAD, RIGHT LUFFY?"

"OF COURSE!" There was the manic grin on the Captain's face again.

"LUFFY! This isn't like with Laboon!"

"I'll give you the last senbai?"

"I don't want the last senbai! If we don't turn around this instant we're going to…"

Zoro interrupted Nami's rant, "Nami, just give it up already."

"Besides, the Captain's given us an order." I added, "We should follow it."

Zoro gave me an approving look, but I knew all too well that he still didn't properly trust me. I'd tell them about me being an Outlier soon, I mean, it would definitely come out if Sabo met up with us in Alabasta that's for sure.

"Why?" Nami had tears running down her face as she took the offered senbai from the Captain and sat down, clutching the railing post.

"Luffy, are you sure we can trust those giants?"

"Yup."

"We're going to do it. We're going to sail straight into the mouth of that monster?"

"Well, it's too late to do anything about it now!"

The most vicious roar I have ever heard startled us all, the mouth closing in on the Going Merry and the world suddenly going darker.

"Straight ahead! Straight ahead! Straight ahead!" Somehow the entire crew was now chanting this as we were now seemingly entirely engulfed.

"Why are we chanting? We've already been swallowed!" Nami shouted at us, even as she herself started to chant.

It was a strange little ritual, but it seemed to work as suddenly we could see the sky and the ocean once again. Only we weren't on top of the ocean, sailing on it, we were in the air flying over it.

"We're flying!"

And all without a coup de burst. Franky would have had a field day with a flying ship that needed no flying helpers.

"DON'T TURN BACK! FLY ON STRAIGHT AHEAD!"

Usopp was sniffling, "They cut ocean itself! This power of Elbaf's warriors is incredible!"

"NOW GO!"

Once we were in the clear, I headed down into the previously unused office where I began to record the adventure that we had had, keeping note of things that the others had mentioned about the climate and the animals on the island and the battles fought and partially lost to those there. I added the dial code to the den-den mushi installed in the small office, but also to the small list that I had put onto the paper pad beside the transponder snail. I must have been down there a while, as the next thing I heard was Vivi scream.

How could I forget that Nami would get sick? How could I forget?

I made it up on the deck just in time to hear Vivi shout about Nami's fever.

"Alright, everyone out of the way. Let me get her down to a bed." I marched up to her and gently put my arms under her and lifted her slowly. She was incredibly hot, sweat covering her entire body and soaking through her clothing.

"I can take her if you want?" That had come from Luffy.

"Thank you, Captain, but I've got her." She was light, and it honestly didn't take much effort for me to lift her and take her down the stairs.

"Sanji, be a dear and dampen a face towel for me?" Sanji did as he was asked, cigarette still in his mouth but with tears running down his face and a snotty nose to match.

With the help of Vivi, we managed to tuck Nami under the sheets of her bed. Sanji hurried back, handing the dampened face towel to me so that I could place it on her forehead.

"Iz Nabi gonna die?" He sniffed some more, "Iz she Bbony, Bibi?"

"Calm down, Sanji. She's going to be fine."

"It has to be from the sudden change in climate," Vivi was theorising. "It's the only obstacle that everyone must face. It doesn't matter how famous or strong of a person you are, helplessly dying at the hands of illnesses is common on the grand line."

That set Sanji off, crying and wailing.

"Really, Vivi?"

She shrugged.

"Even ignoring the slightest of symptoms could lead to death."

There was a silence around the room.

"Is there anyone on the ship that has medical knowledge?"

Almost immediately Usopp and Luffy pointed towards Nami.

"I know basic stuff."

"That helps, at least a little."

"Will meat help?" Luffy really wanted to help out.

"Unfortunately not, but meals easy for a sick person to digest would probably help a lot."

"I'll get right on it, Ebony!" Sanji turned to the two other males in the room, "Besides, the effort I put into preparing food for the girls is one hundred times more than the rest of you. You guys get the scraps, whilst the freshest meat and vegetables are used to cook them a perfectly balanced meal."

"WHAT?"

"Sanji, really?"

He turned to me, hearts in his eyes, "Of course!"

"It still tastes great no matter what!" Luffy was just happy that he had such a great cook on board.

"No matter, as long as I am the chef on board this ship, there will be no need to worry about anything related to malnutrition." He took a deep breath, "If someone is sick then it's because of a different illness and unless I know exactly what that illness is, I haven't a clue of what sort of meal to prepare."

"So she can't just eat anything?"

"Not having enough energy to even eat is what we call being sick in the first place, idiot Captain."

"Vivi! Her fever has risen again!"

"It's going to take more than a week to get to Alabasta, especially with Nami being so ill."

"There are doctors in Alabasta, right?" Usopp was pacing, folding and unfolding his arms as he did so.

"Her fever is at fourty degrees."

"That almost never happens!"

"Is being sick really that painful?" Luffy looked confused.

"Can't say." "I've never been sick before."

"Are you people even human?" And the shark teeth were back as Vivi shouted at the others.

"Being sick is awful, Captain. It's painful for the most part and sometimes, especially in the Nami's case if your body temperature is too high her life is at a serious risk."

"NO!" The Captain's confused expression turned into one of panic, as did both Usopp's and Sanji's.

"It's best if we keep an eye on her, we don't want the fever getting any worse than what it already is." I took a deep breath, "Also, if this was due to the rapid climate change, then it would have affected more than just Nami."

There was a momentary silence throughout the room, the only sound being the laboured breathing of our sick friend.

"Maybe she was stung or bitten by something? I mean, there were animals on that haven't been seen in centuries, so there's probably plants or insects that could cause rapid illness?"

Vivi nodded in agreement, "We have to find her a doctor and quickly."

"WILL SHE DIE?" "PREEZE DUN DIE DABI!" (Sanji was really harshly crying by this point.)

"CALM DOWN!" Vivi shouted, arms out in a calming manner. "We don't want to aggravate her condition any further."

Nami started shifting in the bed, "No…"

"She got better!" Luffy started to cheer.

Usopp hit the captain on the head with the back of his hand, "No she didn't!"

Nami was trying to push herself up and off the bed, but I gently pushed her into a sitting position. "Take it easy, yeah? We don't want you to get any sicker, okay?"

She nodded and turned to Vivi, "There's a newspaper on top of my desk that you should look at."

Vivi made her way over to Nami's desk, whilst I reapplied the damp towel to Nami's forehead.

"Keep it on there, okay? At least for the moment. It should take a bit of the discomfort away, at least that's what I'm hoping."

"What?" Vivi collapsed against the desk, her whole body shaking.

"Is it about Alabasta?" "What is it?"

"Three hundred thousand soldiers of the Royal Army defected to the side of the Rebels. No, that can't be!" Vivi shook her head, "The Royal Army was originally six hundred thousand strong and could contain the rebels who were only four hundred thousand strong, but the situation has completely swapped!"

Nami sighed, "That paper was from three days ago. I'm really sorry for not showing it to you until now, but I didn't want you to worry anymore than what you were. We're already sailing as fast as we can."

She turned to the Captain, "Understand Luffy?"

"It sounds like an emergency."

"That's right, I'm surprised that I didn't have to explain it anymore."

"Nami, the Captain is a lot smarter than what a majority of people give him credit for."

Nami laughed, as did the others as if I had just told a joke.

"I'm serious, guys."

"At least one of you believes in me!" Luffy crossed his arms and pouted, but there was mirth shining in his eyes. He definitely appreciated the comment, and it had lifted the dour mood that the room was in.

Usopp brought us back to the topic of the conversation, "If we don't get you to a doctor soon, Nami…"

"It's fine."

"It's certainly not fine!" I was completely ignored.

"That thermometer is broken anyway, no way would a person have a fourty degree fever."

Considering the ship was pretty much brand new, as was ninety per cent of the equipment on board, that thermometer was definitely not broken. (But I wasn't going to bring that up right at that moment, Nami was on a role.)

"I'm sure it's heatstroke or something similar," She started to climb out of the bed. "I'll get better on my own without a doctor."

Nami shakily walked over to the doorway, "In any case, we'll continue on our way to Alabasta as planned. But, thank you for worrying about me."

She walked out of the room, with myself following along behind her.

"You do know that your fever is far more serious than what you just let on to the others."

"I know, but Vivi needs to get home."

"You're important, too. We would quite literally be lost if something happened to you."

"I know."

Whose bright idea was it to leave Zoro alone on the lookout with his sense of direction? Clearly, Nami thought the same, as she berated him for not looking at the log pose and for the simple fact the clouds do and will move and change shape.

"Uh, my head hurts."

"Lean on me, okay?" And she did so, shaking.

"Nami! That's why I said to take a rest while I took care of things!"

"How can you take care of things when you can't even take care of the directions!"Nami looked up at the sky, "Somethings changed in the atmosphere."

"Huh?" Zoro tilted his head to the side. "The weather has been clear all day."

"Would you please just get everyone up here?"

He nodded and shouted downwards, "Okay! Everyone out, we've got work to do!"

"Take the helm, and steer for the south!"

Sanji poked his tongue out at Zoro, "I don't feel like taking orders from you."

"Shut up, cook and do it!" Sanji begrudgingly got up and did as he was bid.

"Lower the sails so we can catch wind from Portside."

"On it!" Usopp saluted.

"The seas are calm and the weather looks clear to me," Sanji yelled up at Nami.

"Wind, I've got a feeling that the wind is going to get stronger coming from up ahead." She faulted and keeled forward a little.

"Whoa, take it easy." I put my arm around her shoulders and lowered us both to sit on the stairs, leaning against the railing.

The Captain had come up to us and placed a hand on Nami's forehead and immediately took it away, shaking it as if it had caught fire.

"Ouch! You're too hot! We really need to land and get you to a doctor!"

"That's my normal temperature!" Nami tried to lie her way out of it. "Stop wasting time and get the ropes!"

"It's really not, Nami."

She pushed me away, or at least tried to, and stood up. Her strength was sapped, but I let my arm rest around her shoulders; she didn't push me away this time.

"Nami. I know this is for Vivi's are, but don't push yourself too much." Sanji spoke to her gently.

"I told you I'm fine!"

Even Usopp tried to get her to relax, but she just shouted at him to turn the ship around.

For a few minutes, nobody spoke as everyone rushed around, trying to turn the ship around as I centred Nami and checked her temperature again.

Damn. We have got to get her to a doctor, her fever is far too high.

Vivi, amongst the rush had come up to stand on deck.

"I have a request of you all. I know that it isn't my place to demand such a thing, considering you have been kind enough to allow me onto your boat and all, but with the emerging crisis in my homeland, I do want to get there as soon as possible." She took a deep breath in, and seemed to wrestle with herself before speaking again. "Not a single moment can be spared, that's why I am asking if the ship can head to Alabasta at the fastest possible speed."

The silence on board was deafening.

I don't remember this happening, but then again my memories of the early manga was limited as I got far more into it the longer it went on and rarely went back to the start again to read it through.

"Of course!" Nami smiled, "That was the plan."

Vivi was still frowning, as was everyone else on the Going Merry. "Thus we need to find an island with a doctor. Immediately."

The mood on board suddenly went up, even though Nami seemed confused.

"We have to see that Nami gets better as soon and as fast as possible, then we had for Alabasta. That's the only way we will sail there the fastest, right?"

Luffy let out a laugh. "You bet! Can't go any faster than that!"

"Are you sure? A million lives of your own people, aren't you worried your Highness?" Usopp was happy for sure that they would be able to get Nami to a doctor, but was puzzled at Vivi's selflessness.

"Exactly! That's why we need to find a doctor for Nami as quickly as possible!"

"Well said, Vivi!" "I like your guts!"

The cook and the swordsman were grinning up at the Princess, proud.

"I'm sorry for making you worry, Nami, but don't overexert yourself!"

"Thank you, your highness." I was incredibly grateful, as was everyone else at her decision.

"WHAT IS THAT?" Luffy's sudden shout caught everyone's attention, as a sudden cyclone appeared in the direction that we had been headed in.

"It's huge!" "Look at that cyclone!"

"Nami, hang in there!" She lurched forward, even with my arms around her and Vivi lunged to catch her. Between the two of us we managed to get her upright.

"We were headed that way just moments ago! We would have crashed right into it!"

"Talk about a close call!"

"Your abilities are incredible, Nami." "I've never seen such a navigator…"

"Alright! Everyone, let's head south to find a doctor!"

"RIGHT!"

A/N: This was written incredibly quickly. I don't know how I managed it, but over five thousand words were written in less than a day. I've got a week or so left before classes start up again, which means that I'll be in the last semester of my degree! It's both incredibly exciting and really nerve-wracking.

Also, the next chapter has already been written up and edited, but that won't be posted until either my second or third week back at university. I'm hoping that giving myself a few weeks to write the next chapter will help give this story a bit more consistency in uploading. (Fingers crossed that this works.)

I also really wanted to thank those who have commented, favourited and followed this story in the time that it has been online! I really appreciate it and reading your comments always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling! (So thank you, Lammergeier13, fate's mask, Vongola10, DragonClanMaster, RavenCarver, and eruki-sama, and anyone else that I haven't yet mentioned!)