A/N: This sort of feels like half a filler, but it's not? I think it's because this point in the manga was more plot and story than action and fighting. (Not going to complain, I want to try and flesh out Ebony more and this will probably help.)

I hope that you enjoy this chapter, regardless!

I heard a gunshot ring out and rushed upstairs. Vivi was lying on the deck, clutching at her arm in pain.

"How dare you!"

The Captain was furious and readied himself to take out the offender with a gum gum pistol, but before he could Vivi had grabbed a hold of his leg.

"Wait! This isn't a problem you can solve by fighting! The bullet only grazed my arm, don't worry about me!"

Vivi, whilst down on the ground bent her head. "I beg of you, we promise not to set foot on your country, could you please just call over a doctor! Our friend is gravely I'll and in much pain! Please help her!"

The proud Princess of Alabasta laid her head against the deck, a momentary silence ringing out.

I walked calmly towards where the Captain stood.

"Please, Luffy," He abruptly turned towards me. I very rarely called him by name, so for me to do so he knew that the situation was serious, dire even. "This cannot be solved with your fists, we have to use our words for this."

"Luffy, you're failing to carry out your Captain duties, recklessly fighting isn't always going to solve things."

"We can't fight; not this time, Captain. We haven't got that luxury. Nami hasn't got that luxury."

Vivi and I seemed to get through to him, as the steel in his eyes retreated a little, and retreated further at the sound of our ill friend's name.

"Sorry! I was wrong!" Luffy then promptly got down next to Vivi, on his hands and knees in apology and to bed for a doctor.

"We only ask for a doctor!" The Future King of the Pirates lay down his pride, "Please save our friend!"

I had walked back towards the others in the silence that followed. When I reached them, I tapped Usopp on the wrist.

"I'm going to check on Nami."

He nodded, eyes sharp, still looking at the guns surrounding us all.

I heard as I was halfway down the stairs the sound of the anchor being lifted and a warning was being said about the doctor.

"There is only one doctor in this country and she so happens to be a witch."

The sound of disbelief from the crew was almost music to my ears.

Sabo was almost at his intended destination of Alabasta, the small boat not too far ahead of his own clearly having the same intentions. He, however, still had yet to contact Ebony. He didn't know why, but something was telling him that it wouldn't be the best time to do so, whether that was on his part or on hers, he wasn't too sure.

It was probably his. He hasn't quite come to grips with his memories slowly coming back to him, small habits and mannerisms that he always had had we're becoming more prominent as the reasons for those were slowly returning. Like his accent, that he had never lost. The upper class noble accent that he had always hated having made a lot more sense now, knowing that he was technically a nobleman, a runaway one, but still one by birth. And his eating habits, always snatching something off another's plate or hiding his own away. Luffy and ace had left their marks on him, even without his memories, in ways that would never be forgotten.

He stood up, shaking himself out. He didn't have too far to go now; he'd ring Ebony, he decided, in the next few hours.

Maybe.

(Koala would berate him when he got back if he didn't.)

Readying Nami, Vivi and I had to shoo the boys out of the room so that we could get her in clothing that wouldn't make her freeze. Thankfully, she was awake enough that we only needed to help her out rather than the alternative. I had offered to carry her, but Sanji lifted Nami onto his back with ease. (Zoro was going to be staying behind with Carue to protect the ship. And the green haired idiot had decided that his legs were fine, now and that he could get right back into training. I scolded him and warned him to not take it too fast or otherwise he would be back to square one. He grinned sheepishly and told me not to worry. I would though, it's what I did, worry.)

"This country has no name, as of yet."

"Is that even possible?"

"They're probably in between governments or something."

"That sounds about right, this country was initially a monarchy though."

Our short conversation was interrupted by the terrified shrieking of Usopp.

"EVERYONE PLAY DEAD! IT'S A BEAR!"

And so it was. A rather large bear, using a walking stick to make their way through the snow.

"It's just a hiking bear, it poses no danger."

The man who was leading us into town turned towards us, "But mind your hiking manners and don't forget to bow."

And so we did, every single one of us, except for Usopp who was still lying on the ground, cowering away.

As we made our way into the town, there were a number of mistrustful stares from onlookers and even some children were ushered inside their homes. It hurt a little, but I did understand; pirates weren't to be trusted by outsiders, criminals they were at best and murderers, pillagers at worst. (Thank the gods that Luffy wasn't like that, only fighting when he truly felt like it, for his own strange sense of justice in the world.)

"So, this is our town." Our guide used his arm to demonstrate.

"Thank you for this, we really appreciate it." I bowed my head in thanks; they were really taking a chance on the fact that all we wanted was to cure our navigator and not destroy or hurt anybody.

"There's some really weird animals walking around!" "This is a real snow country, that's for sure!"

Usopp and Luffy had stars in their eyes, making them look even younger than they were.

"Nami, we're in a town! Finally!" Sanji was speaking, lowered voice, so as to not disturb our sick crew mate too much. Nami let out a small sound of acknowledgement and fell silent.

I made my way over to Nami and Sanji and placed a hand on Nami's forehead, immediately removing it.

"Okay, okay." Her fever had gone up again. This wasn't good, we had to get her to a doctor and fast.

Sanji looked at me worryingly, "She's going to get better, right?"

I had to remember that I was currently the oldest member of the crew and that everyone else were still teenagers. True, it hadn't been long since I myself were a teenager, but there seemed to be a certain amount of responsibility with being your (very) early twenties.

"If we can get her to a doctor as quickly as possible, but if not." I didn't want to lie, and I wasn't going to.

Sanji's lower lip trembled, as if he were about to start crying. I put my hand on his shoulder, carefully so that I didn't disturb Nami.

"Everything is going to be fine, Sanji."

He smiled at me, a small genuine one, blushing a little.

The two of us, three if you included Nami, had missed an entire interaction behind us as Vivi tugged on my sleeve to get our attention.

"Let's get Nami inside."

Following our guide into the home, he introduced himself.

"My apologies for the belated introduction, my name is Dalton and it is my job to guard this island. Please forgive our hostile welcome."

Sanji lifted Nami off of his back and gently laid her down onto the bed, where Vivi and I covered her up with several blankets.

Dalton turned to both Vivi and Sanji and gave them an odd look as if he was trying to place their faces.

"I'd like to ask the two of you something, I get the feeling that I've seen you both somewhere before."

The two froze up.

Royalty, I had forgotten that Dalton would have been to at least one Reverie and both the blonde cook and the blue-haired Princess had probably been to at least one in their childhood (at least before Sanji had run).

"Y-you must be imagining things…" "I don't believe so, sorry."

I interrupted before Dalton could place their faces, "Would you be able to tell us more about this so-called witch?"

He turned towards me and nodded. He'd respect their need for privacy, even though he definitely knew their faces from somewhere and he was sure that it hadn't been from around this island. Both Vivi and Sanji let out a sigh of relief that they probably didn't know that they were holding back.

"From the window, you should be able to see mountains."

Unfortunately, all we were able to see was a towering snowman, that both Luffy and Usopp were swinging off of.

"I'll go get the children." I sighed, but before I could get up and leave Sanji placed a hand on my shoulder and shook his head, before storming out of the house to get them himself.

Moments later he appeared, snowman demolished by a foot and two pouting teenagers following behind.

Dalton smiled a little, before continuing. "those mountains are called the Drum Rockies. There's a castle right on top of the tallest mountain in the middle. Presently, the castle doesn't have a king."

"A castle?" "I can see it alright." "No king?"

"Dr Kureha, she is the lone doctor in this entire country, the one they call a witch. She lives in that castle on top of the mountain."

"What?"

"Of all the places she has to be, it has to be there." Sanji bit his cigarette in half out of frustration.

"Is there a way to get into contact with her? To get her to come here, rather than going to her?" Nami's temperature had gone up to fourty-two degrees, and I really didn't want the others to panic, but if we didn't get her to a doctor soon she was going to die.

"Unfortunately not, she's a brilliant doctor with a love of sugared plums, but she's a bit of a kook and almost one-hundred and fourty years old."

"One hundred and fourty? And she's still alive?" "What do people do in this country if someone is sick or injured?"

"She does come down from the mountain whenever she feels like it, find patients to treat and afterwards takes whatever she feels like from her patients' homes as payment."

"Mean old hag." "She's basically a pirate!"

"Does she take things that wouldn't be missed? Or valuables, like family heirlooms?"

There was an important distinction; if she took important stuff, like family heirlooms or things that were worth a lot of money, then it was sort of extortion. But non-valuables and things that wouldn't be missed, it wasn't such a bad thing in my eyes.

"You know what, I'm not entirely sure. She never seems to take things that people need I suppose."

"How does that old woman even get down from the mountain?"

Vivi was asking the real questions here.

"According to witnesses, she apparently rides down on a sleigh on moonlit nights, cackling away. That's why people call her a witch."

Sounds more like Santa, without the cackling.

"Others have reportedly seen a most bizarre creature travelling along with her."

Usopp started to mumble about snow monsters and warning us about the snow monsters and please, oh please don't let them get me! I want to live!

"Although she is the countries only doctor, she's also someone who I'd prefer to have little to do with. In any case, I'm afraid the only thing you can do is wait until she comes down from the mountain."

"That can't be!"

"How the hell is it possible for there to be only one doctor in an entire country?"

Luffy was sitting next to Nami, gently patting (more like slapping, to be perfectly honest) her face, trying to awaken her.

"Hey, Nami!" Pat! Slap! "Nami!" Pat! Slap! "Can you hear me?"

"AND WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Usopp, Sanji and Vivi looked on in shock while I rolled my eyes a little.

"Guys, calm down! He isn't hurting her!"
"Ah! You're awake!" And she was, slowly her eyes opened to look up at Luffy.

"Listen, we can't get a doctor unless we go up a mountain." He took a breath, knowing that this wasn't the best idea, but hat other choice did they have?

"So we'll be hiking up!"

The outrage from the others was kind of amusing, despite the seriousness of the situation. Nami had finally agreed with something her crazy captain wanted and now everyone else thought she was crazy, too.

(We all had to be a little nuts to join the Straw Hat Pirates.)

Sanji was adamant that he was going along, too. Usopp was almost berating the captain about the dangers ahead.

"Letting Nami fall, even once could mean the end for her! Got it!"

"Got it!" Luffy nodded furiously.

"Hold still, Luffy! I have to tie her tightly around you!" Vivi was carefully tying Nami onto Luffy's back.

"That should do it, I'll stay behind. I'd only drag you down if I came along."

"Me too!"

I was about to volunteer to come along, as well, but Luffy was staring at me.

"Ebony, stay here and protect the others."

Huh?

"Captain?"

"You're strong, stay here and protect them in case something happens."

That was a lot to take in. Luffy, Monkey D. Luffy thought that I was strong? I hadn't even shown myself in a fight, yet he thought that I was strong?

Despite my confusion, I agreed with him. "Sure thing, Captain, you can count on me."

Dalton considered us all for a moment, "If you're serious about this, I'm not going to stop you but you should at least climb up from the other side. The route to the top from here is full of lapins! They're extremely violent and carnivorous rabbits; if you come across a pack of them, there'll be no escaping alive!"

"Rabbits? But we're in a hurry, I'm sure it'll be fine." Luffy looked at Sanji, "Right?"

"Yeah." He reassured the captain, "I'll kick any that get in our way."

"Be careful, you three. Lapins are no joke." I interjected and got nods from the two conscious.

"Alright! Let's go, Sanji!" Luffy took off, Sanji not far behind him. "Before Nami dies!"

"DON'T SAY THAT, YOU IDIOT!"

The two ran off in the direction of the tallest mountain, Sanji scolding Luffy. We all watched them as they disappeared into the distance.

"I wonder if they'll really be okay." Dalton seemed a little concerned.

I laughed and Usopp turned to Dalton, "No need to worry, those two will be fine."

"The problem is whether or no Nami can hold on that long."

"She's stronger than what most people think, she'll be okay."

Another moment of silence, the wind seeming to get stronger and the snow falling heavier than before.

"What's wrong? You should come inside already, it's already rather cold out here."

Vivi and Usopp looked towards me. Apparently, as Luffy had ordered me to stay behind and protect the others, despite Usopp's clear seniority within the crew, I had been elected leader.

I shook my head, "I think we'll wait out here for the moment."

"I want to stay outside for now!" "Me too!"

Dalton looked confused, before smiling. "I see, I'll join you then." He sat down on the ground, looking out towards the distant mountains.

"It wasn't like this, not too long ago."

"Hm?"

"The doctors, I mean. There's a reason why all of them, save for one disappeared."

He took in a deep breath, feeling our eyes on him as he told the story.

"Only a few months ago, this country was utterly destroyed at the hands of pirates!"

"That does explain the welcome."

Vivi and Usopp weren't exactly as calm as I was.

"WHAT?" "THE ENTIRE COUNTRY?"

"It does explain it, yes. Everyone here is still uneasy, even at hearing the word 'pirate'."

His face turned dark, "The pirate crew was only that of five people. Their captain called himself 'Blackbeard'… With overwhelming strength, they destroyed our entire country in the blink of an eye."

"Only five pirates? That's crazy!" "Blackbeard?"

I froze up. How did I forget that the bastard had been mentioned earlier than any of us had ever met the damn man, how did I forget that he destroyed things wherever he went? I could feel my hands shaking, as the clenched into fists. It was probably a good thing that I wasn't holding onto anything because I would have broken something. As it was, I could feel my nails break the skin on my palms and blood being drawn.

Dalton had continued on, meaning that I had missed almost the entire second half of the conversation.

"…The name of this country was formerly called the 'Drum Kingdom' and the ruler was a man named Wapol. He was truly a most despicable king!"

"That man! Now I remember!" "Wapol?"

"You know him?" Dalton looked shocked, and slightly suspicious.

"Know him? We don't know jack shit other than him being the pirate who attacked our ship. Of course, I was the one who chased him away." "Really, Usopp? I distinctly remember Luffy sending him flying." "Let me have the moment, Ebony, please." "Not at all." "But now that I think about it, he did say something about Drum Kingdom."

Vivi was muttering, "He's the same man I met when I was a little girl and father took me to the Reverie."

"Reverie? Who exactly are you?"

Dalton had heard her mutterings, looking even more confused and suspicious.

By this point, the blood on my palms had started to seep out, leaving Vivi to notice.

"Ebony! What happened?"

This definitely drew attention towards myself, and away from Dalton's suspicious looks towards Vivi.

"You mentioned the bastard. I got angry, sorry."

"The bastard? Wapol?"

"No. Blackbeard. Marshall D. Teach."

Dalton then turned to me, "You know him?"

"No, I know of him." I took a calming breath. "He's a betrayer, formerly a son of the Strongest Man, Edward Newgate. A former Whitebeard Pirate."

"Are you telling the truth?"

"About Blackbeard? Yes."

I wouldn't lie when that man was concerned.

"No, about Wapol?"

"What does that mean? You said the country was destroyed, then why is the king alive and playing at being a pirate of all things?"

"Him being a pirate is just a disguise, he's most likely just loitering around the oceans here waiting for the right time to come back."

Vivi was confused. "So, Wapol and his men were driven out of the island and forced to become pirates after being unable to fight off the Blackbeard Pirates?"

"No. That's wrong." Dalton angrily stated, "Back when the pirates attacked, the King and his Soldiers didn't even try to mount a resistance."

"What?" Vivi's voice shook.

"Once Wapol realised just how strong the pirates were, he simply up and left his country and his people. All the citizens were dismayed by such an act of cowardice committed by their own king."

"AND HE CALLS HIMSELF A KING!"

Vivi was angry and shocked.

"Vivi.." Usopp tentatively put a hand on her shoulder, and when she didn't shrug it off, pulled her into a half hug.

"It's beyond cruel, how could the king just abandon his people?"

"Not all kings are noble, Vivi. Not all kings want the best for their people. Some do, some don't; it's an unfortunate fact of life." I had to be gentle about this, she hadn't known anything other than her kind father who always wanted the best for his people.

"Exactly, but thanks to that, Wapol's reign of tyranny finally came to an end."

"Huh, the bastard was good for something after all." I still loathed the man, but even I couldn't deny that he had done something, not good, but something for this country.

"Sounds like it." Usopp mustn't have like the way that I described the man, his voice holding a tone of anger in it towards Blackbeard.

"This island now belongs to those of us who remained behind! The towns are slowly beginning to recover and we're in the midst of forging a new country. That is why the thing we all dread the most is his return, at this time of great unrest, we must prevent that at all costs."

"Hence the elections being held." Dalton nodded.

"For the purpose of creating a better country for a better tomorrow, we must!"

"Do you think they'll be okay?"

Sanji was a little worried about the others. The welcome that they had received was weighing heavily on his mind. He certainly knew that Ebony was capable of protecting the others, her movements sharp and her eyes knowing.

"They'll be fine! Ebony's there and that Dalton guy is a good guy!"

Luffy trusted Ebony, she knew Ace and knew of Sabo; Ace would never say anything about their brother to someone that he didn't trust. It was his second most tightly held secret.

"It's getting pretty cold up here, with all this wind…"

"Why the hell are you still wearing your sandals in this weather? I know Ebony and Vivi-can told you to change them! Just looking at your feet is making me cold!"

"That's just my police!" No. Wait. Wrong word. Luffy wasn't going to take it back now. He never said anything he didn't mean.

"POLICY! You mean policy!"

"Is it?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Sanji spied a small rabbit-like creature.

"Careful! I think that thing there is a lapin!"

Sanji wasn't going to necessarily take the advice of a man, but of a woman, yes. He would be wary of the lapins.

"Dodge!"

Between the two of them, Luffy and Sanji continuously dodged the singular lapin who seemed intent on making them its lunch.

"Apparently people can die if they fall asleep on winter islands!"

"Who told you that? Usopp?"

"No! A guy in a bar!"

"That's stupid!"

"That's what I was told!"

"Then why is there a bed in that guy, Dalton's, place?"

"Maybe it's there for when he dies?"

The two narrowly dodged the lapin, who took a chunk out of a tree, causing it to break in half and for Sanji and Luffy to leap over it. Sanji took a quick look back towards the lapin. It looked angry and really confused.

Ha! Serves it right for trying to eat us and endanger Nami-swan!

Unfortunately for the three of them, the next movement they made caused the lapin to go flying off into the distance, as Sanji kicked upwards to remove the snow beneath his feet.

"Shit."

Standing in their way were several large lapins, with shadows behind them, indicating more large lapins in the distance.

"Those are huge. Think they're polar bears?"

"No, I think that they're the little shits family." The little shit in question was the lapin who was trying it's very hardest to kill them.

The largest one in front suddenly moved, leaping towards them.

"IT JUMPED!"

The lapin's powerful front paws narrowly missed Sanji and Luffy, the two of the dodging in different directions to get out of the way.

"HOW CAN IT JUMP LIKE THAT! IT'S LIKE A GORILLA!"

"I thought it was a lapin, or a polar bear. Not a gorilla?" Great and now Sanji had confused his captain.

"It moves like a gorilla! It's one of those lapins that Dalton warned us about!"

The two looked towards the mountain path, which was covered in lapins of all different sizes, the largest being the one that had just leapt at them.

"There's so many of them!" Somehow the cigarette that Sanji had in his mouth had survived and was still lit, smoke curling out from his mouth. "It's got to be expected of such a creature, to move this quickly in the snow. We're at an unfortunate disadvantage."

Luffy went to move forward, but Sanji placed a hand in front of him to stop him.

"Don't lay a hand on them." "Why not?"

"You've got Nami on your back, even though you'd be unaffected by an attack, she wouldn't be. She'd probably die in this state if something happened."

The lapin let out a bloodcurdling roar, more like that of a tiger or lion than something you would expect out of the mouth of a rabbit-like creature.

Luffy nodded, "Got it! I won't fight!"

This whole not fighting thing was very difficult for him, as Luffy soon found out. He was good at dodging, he'd had plenty of practice attempting to move out of the way of his Gramps so-called Fist of Love, but this was something else entirely. He'd never had to move with something attached to his back and it was slowing him down a lot.

"RUN! BUT DON'T RUN TOO FAST!"

Thanks for the advice Sanji, really.

"FLANCHET SHOOT!"

Sanji kicked downwards, into the larger lapin, sending it flying towards the rest of the pack.

"Damn it! It's too hard to get any good kicks with this snow!"

The lapin pack twitched in unison, heads cocking to one side before all lunging at once.

"I'LL COVER YOU! RUN INTO THE FOREST!"

Luffy didn't have much choice but to obey, running as if his life depended on it (which it kind of did), Sanji blocking and defending from behind.

"We've got to shake them off!" Sanji still hadn't managed to drop his cigarette, something that Luffy was currently admiring him for. "If we fought seriously, we'd be here all day!"

"Damn!" Luffy managed to remember not to fight, dodging the lapin that had landed in front of him and Nami.

Spotting a portion of the mountain that seemed possibly climbable, Luffy shouted towards his friend, who was currently doing the splits in midair, kicking two lapins away from them. "Hey, Sanji! We can climb up from here!"

"Alright! Go on ahead!"

Using a few of the adult lapins as a launching point, the two flipped themselves up and over, higher and higher, until they managed to reach the ledge.

Looking back, the pack was still advancing towards the three of them.

"THEY'RE STILL AFTER US! JUST KEEP RUNNING ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP!"

A/N: I have plans, but I'm not sure when I can put them into the story and not ruin a future point that I may or may not have. I think the plan I have will be coming into play in the next few chapters, so I cannot wait for it to be a. written and b. for you guys to read it!