A/N: That Book 3 finale breakin' my heart like

"Hey, Combover guy! Wait up!" Bear ran- rather, power walked after Sanji, who was going along at a decent speed.

"I can't talk right now, Ma'am, I have to-" A horrified look came over the blonde man's face. "C-Combover...?"

"Gotcha!" She took advantage of his horror-stricken paralysis to pick Sanji up in order to prevent him from hurting himself. "Do you want to go around in a wheelchair for the rest of your life?"

He started to protest, but was cut off by the hand covering his mouth.

"Relax. We'll go protect that girl together, okay?" They walked in silence for a few moments, before. "So, I bet you don't think I'm weak anymore, do you?"

Sanji frowned. "I never said you were weak, I just said I didn't want you to fight."

Bear scoffed. "And why's that? Think we can't take it?"

"No, it's just..." He looked away. "I don't like seeing ladies get hurt."

"Girls get hurt just as often as boys. It happens."

The blonde made some sort of confirming noise, and turned his gaze back towards her. "You were really strong, though. Sorry for underestimating you."

The teenaged-amnesiac made a small sighing noise. "You're a clueless idiot, but you're also kinda sweet."

"Ehhhh!? Really, Bear-sama!?" There were loving hearts in Sanji's eyes. "I'm sweet!?"

"Don't push it."

Looking forward, Bear noticed the three figures ahead of them. Luffy was chasing after a suddenly skinny Wapol, while Nami was twirling a key around her finger.

"Oh... It's just the key to the armory? Shoot, I was hoping it'd be a key to his treasury instead..." The orange-haired woman looked disappointed. "How boring..."

"Hey, uh, Nami was it?" Bear addressed the woman to get her attention. "C'mon, it's not safe around here. Who knows when Wapol could come back?"

"Oh!" Nami turned to face her, surprised. "Bear-chan! Yeah, I guess that's true. Let's get back to my room, okay?"

OoOoOoOoO

"Agh, bleeding hog-monkeys! Why won't these stupid things stop slipping off my arm!?" Bear growled as the strip of bandages again failed to stay in place on her injured forearm.

Nami sighed and decided to spare her. "Here, let me help." She began wrapping the bandages around the wound, which was already reduced to a ghastly red slash rather than an open sore, thanks to the unknown healing powers the girl possessed. "Jeez, don't you even know how to put on bandages?"

"No..." The amnesiac pouted and looked away. "I only remember how to use my element controlling powers."

The orange-haired women realized with a flinch that she had spoken badly. "Well, that's not all true..."

"What do you mean?"

"Hog-monkeys." Nami finished bandaging Bear's arm.

"Ummm...? What about hog-monkeys?"

"I've never heard of them. What about you, Sanji-kun?"

Sanji looked over from the bed Bear had dragged into the room and promptly stuck him in. "Nope. Come to think of it, Bear-sama, you mentioned things like 'tiger-seals' and 'arctic-hippos'. I've never heard of any of those animals."

"Really? Animals like those are pretty common where I'm fro-" Bear's eyes widened and she gasped.

"Exactly. You remember all those hybrid animals and everything, right? I'm guessing it's sort of a subconscious thing."

She smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Slipping her arm sleeve back over the bandages, she frowned at the tear in the fabric and the blood staining it.

"I can fix that for you." Nami smiled at her. "Lemme see it."

Bear placed the stretch of material in the other woman's outstretched hand. "Thanks."

An explosion rocked the castle.

"What was that!?" The fighting girl looked around, panicked.

Nami shrugged. "Probably just Luffy."

"Let me check. You two stay here." She motioned at the two of them and ran out of the room.

OoOoOoOoO

Bear arrived outside just in time to see Luffy crash into the ground, and into two people.

"What the hell are you doing!?" One of them, a man with tanned ochre skin and short, lime-green hair screeched at him. On his left ear were three golden earrings to match with the three swords he carried at his side.

"Sorry about that." Luffy rubbed his head and laughed. "Your clothes made you look like the enemy from a distance. So you guys hiked up here, too? Usopp, I thought you said you weren't gonna hike?"

Usopp, who had an unusually long nose, dark-bay skin, and goggles and a hairnet over his curly black hair, got up and cracked his back. "Hahaha, don't be stupid. I'm the kind of guy who just climbs mountains because they're there. This one was a bit of a doozy, but nothing the Great Usopp couldn't handle."

"We took the ropeway up here." A mahogany-skinned woman with her blue hair tied into a ponytail explained. "Are Nami-san and Sanji-san alright!?"

"Yup, they're all better now!"

"On our way up, we were attacked by a giant condor. 'Course, I was a little surprised at first but I instinctively sprang into action!" Usopp continued on in the background.

"Oh, that's a relief."

Bear decided now was a good time as any to walk into the conversation. "Friends of yours, Straw-hat?"

"It tried to dive right for my heart, but I, with the grace of ballet dancer, effortlessly dodged its deadly strike!"

"Mah?" Luffy turned to her and smiled. "Oh, yeah! This is Zoro, Usopp, and Vivi."

"After missing, the condor tried to fly back up, but I, the Great Captain, would not allow such a thing! I quickly threw a lasso around its neck and as I tightened it, I yelled 'My name is Captaaaaiiin Usopp!"

"It's very nice to meet you all." Bear smiled and bowed, placing her palm and a fist together. "You can call me Bear."

"Eh?" Zoro, the green-haired man was taken aback. "You don't look like a bear."

She cocked an eyebrow at him, but ignored his comment. "Straw-hat, where's Wapol?"

"Oh. I sent him flying."

A large, heavily injured man walked up to them. It looked like he had rode up on the lift with the others. "Then, that thing flying through the air just a moment ago... was really Wapol!? What about his two servants!?"

Bear would ask later how Wapol had literally been sent 'flying through the air'. Right now, she was looking worriedly at the man. "Me and Chopper took them out. But that's not important right now. You need a healer." She held a hand out to him. "Here."

"You and... Chopper?"

Motioning behind her, she clarified. "The reindeer."

Chopper was there, hiding- well, he was doing it so the opposite way one would hide- behind a tree.

The man gaped at him. "A blue nose? You're... The one from back then?" He looked at all of them, and then got on his hands and knees and bowed low. "Thank you! I'm sure Drum can finally be born anew now!"

"Hey!" Bear picked him up by the arm and scolded him. "Don't move around with wounds like that!"

A scream broke out behind them.

"Th-There's a weird creature over there!" Several men had also come off the lift.

"A reindeer? No, its-"

"It's a m-m-mon-"

"Stop your yelling at once!" The injured man ordered his subordinates.

"Monsteeeeeeerrrrr!" Usopp had taken the liberty to cry out the rest of the men's words. Chopper's face darkened with a cry, and he ran off.

"Dumbass!" Luffy went over and hit him. "That's our new crewmate I found! But he ran away because you scared him off!" And then the rubber boy ran after the reindeer, scaring him even more.

Bear, meanwhile, glared at the bunch. "How dare you! You should be on your knees, thanking him! He just saved your country!"

"Hey, Bear." Kureha cooed from behind the girl, her appearance causing much fright amongst the crowd. "Quit barkin' and bring the wounded to the patient rooms." She then turned back to the castle wall, and kicked a hole in it. "I said get back to the patient rooms!"

Nami and Sanji peered out from the hole.

"What happened to 'stay where you are?'" Bear growled out at them as she walked inside.

OoOoOoO

Sanji's screams echoed throughout the castle.

"Jeez, I guess she just skipped 'heal' and went to 'torture'." Bear commented as she healed the man, who turned out to be Dalton, with water. A crowd of civilians-turned-soldiers gathered around in awe, the soft glow illuminating all.

Kureha then walked back in the room, causing the crowd to jump back in fear. "Hee hee hee. His back's in even worse shape, like I thought. It's his own damn fault for running around while still injured." She took a swig of sake and turned to Dalton. "Dalton, you don't happen to know where the key to this castle's armory is, do you?"

"The armory? Why would you even want the key to that?"

"And, all done!" Bear finished healing Dalton and slowly set him down. "Now don't you dare start getting out of bed like everyone else I heal."

"Don't worry, I won't." He smiled. "But, Doctor Kureha, Wapol's always kept that key with him at all times, so I would imagine it's disappeared into the sky along with him."

"Why don't I just break down the door, Kureha?" Bear lifted a stone from the floor into the air and grinned. "If it's made of rock, it won't be a problem."

"Actually, Bear-chan..." Nami sat up from her bed and winked. "You won't have to lift a finger. Doctorine, about the treatment fee for me and my crewmates... Can I get you to waive it off? Oh, and allow us to leave right away as well, okay?"

"Is that supposed to be some sort of bad joke? I'll not only be taking all the money you have, but also whatever else you've got on your shop as treatment costs." Kureha frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "Also, you're not leaving anywhere for another 2 whole days, missy."

"Listen to the doctor, Nami!" Vivi, the blue-haired girl from before, scolded her friend. "We have to make sure you're back to full health before-

"Its fine. Don't feel like I'm on the verge of death anymore."

Bear rolled her eyes. "Wow! A full recovery! Why do you wanna leave so badly, anyways?"

"Because, we just do. We need to leave, and you-" She pulled out a key and twirled it around her finger. "-need this key."

"Is that the real key? How did you get it?" Kureha's eyes were wide.

"I swiped it."

"Forcing me to accept your ridiculous demands... You've got some guts for a little girl."

Bear frowned. "Uh, hello? Person who can move stone like it's nothing, right here!"

"You can't get into that damn armory!" The doctor snapped back. "It's made of metal. the whole thing!" She grabbed the key from Nami and pulled on a jacket. "Fine, I'll waive off your treatment bills."

Nami's face brightened.

"But! I won't accept your second condition. I can't allow it as a doctor."

Nami's face darkened. "What, no! Oi, give that key back, then!"

"Listen up, Missy. I'm going to leave this room for a while to take care of some business. In the inner room over there, you can find my coat, and there won't be anyone standing guard. Also, I've finished fixing up your other friend's dislocated back." She glared right at Nami. "But don't you dare use my absence to escape! Bear, come help me with some things."

Bear stood up and looked Kureha in the eyes. "Actually, Doctor, I'm going to be leaving now."

The old woman stopped short.

"Thank you for taking care of me. As you know, I don't have anything with me but the clothes on my back, so I'm unable to pay you, but-"

Kureha barked out a laugh. "You? Leave? Please. As little-miss-amnesia, you wouldn't last a second out on the Grand Line!"

Bear cocked and eyebrow up. "Grand Line?"

"Damn girl can't remember anything." The old woman chuckled darkly and threw a book at her younger peer. "Here! Start reading up and get to rememberin', and then you can leave."

When she flipped open to the front page of the book, the amnesiac's brows knitted together. She continued to flip through the pages, until she growled out, "I can't read a word of this!"

"See! Can't even read!"

"No, I mean it's in complete gibberish!"

"What are you talking about?" Kureha stomped over and grabbed the book, holding it out for her to read. "It's in perfect Sea Script!"

Bear groaned and looked to the group of civilians. "Anyone got anything to write with?" A pencil was promptly tossed to her. She grabbed the book back and wrote something inside the front cover. Handing it back to the doctor with a satisfied smirk, she leaned back and said, "See?"

Kureha stared at what Bear had written. Her eyes were wide, and they seemed to hold some small sprinkling of emotion that couldn't exactly be placed. Fear? "Bear." She addressed the girl, who looked up. The old woman displayed the inside of the front cover. One single line of characters were written there.

"醫生庫爾啊的財物"

"This isn't a language, Bear."

"What?" A worried smile came upon the young girl's face. "Hey, c'mon, quit joking!"

"Bear, can you tell me what year it is?"

"Huh? I-It's 171."

The room was absolutely silent.

"You know, 171? Chun Tai era?" Bear turned to Nami and Vivi. Their faces held interest, confusion, and even slight horror. "Year of the Goat?"

"Bear." Kureha finally spoke. "It's 1527 in the Great Pirate Era."

The girl's breath caught on her throat. "W-What?"

The doctor turned and walked away. "You're of no help here, then. Everyone else, come with me." She and the rest walked out of the room.

Bear sat there on the stool, frozen. All could see were her hands. Hands from the year 171. Vivi frowned and looked at Nami.

"Hey-" She tried to place a comforting hand on the shocked girl, but she recoiled backwards.

"S-Sorry." Bear squeaked out. "I-"

"It's alright."

"Are you going to come with us?" Nami asked softly.

She was silent. Raising her head, the girl looked at the full moon outside the window. "Yeah. Your captain asked me to join, and... There's something telling me that if I follow you guys, I'll find the answers I'm looking for."

"Good luck." Dalton spoke up, smiling.

Bear smiled back at him. "You too."

OoOoOoO

They grabbed Sanji and left the castle. Walking out into the snow, there seemed to be a scene already going on.

"I'm thankful to you for helping us out!" Chopper was looking down at the ground, not meeting anyone's eyes. Then he scrunched up his face and yelled, "But I'm... A reindeer! I have horns... hooves... And my nose is even blue ...!"

Bear turned to Chopper. She wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know how. With the way she was feeling, she wasn't sure she could do so even if she knew how.

"I do... Want to be a pirate, but...!" Tears welled up in his eyes. "But I'm not human! I'm a monster! So I can't be a pirate with you! That's why... I've come here just to say thanks! Thank you, for inviting me along. Though I'll be staying here, maybe one day, I'll-"

"SHUT UP!" Luffy bellowed, throwing his fists high above his head. "LET'S GO!"

OoOoOoO

"So, you're really coming with us then, Bear?" Luffy sat atop the beginnings of a snowman.

"Yeah. I mean, I have nowhere else to go, so..." Bear looked down and smiled sadly. "I don't really have a 'home', I guess."

"What are you talking about!?" Luffy grinned at her. "We're your home, now!"

"Huh?"

"We're your friends now, so don't be sad, okay? Captain's orders!"

Bear looked at him. This kid was crazy! But, for some reason, she felt her sadness ebbing away. "Okay." She smiled at him.

"Shishishi! That's great!" He began balancing on the snowball he was sitting on. "See, the way I figure it, you're from another world!"

"What?" Usopp questioned his captain's logic from over where he was building his own snowman. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you talk all weird, you dress all weird, and you have those cool powers! And you said you write all weird too, right?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Bear scratched her head. "I thought it was the year 171, so shouldn't that mean I'm from the past, or something?"

Luffy stuck his tongue out. "So? I can say I'm from the year 'meat', and that doesn't mean I'm from the past! You must've come out of some portal or something!"

"That doesn't make any sense, you idiot..." Sanji dryly commented from the ground.

"But if you got here somehow, then you should be able to get back, right? So we'll go to wherever you're from and ask them who you are!"

Bear thought for a moment. Normally, she wouldn't believe him, but she had just seen a man eat two other men whole and then combine them, today. Logic had gone somewhere and died. "Sounds fine to me."

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone had gotten impossibly lost." Usopp informed. "Maybe you're related to Zoro, somehow."

Zoro decapitated Usopp's snowman in retaliation.

"Oi, Zoro! That's murder!"

Bear doubled over in laughter. "Man, you guys are crazy!"

Luffy laughed along with her. "I know, right!?"

Crashing noises began to sound from the castle.

"Jeez..." Nami commented. "Whoever's making so much noise should show some more class. Don't they know that Chopper's trying to have a tearful goodbye?"

"Look's like he's done." Zoro said. Out from the castle ran Chopper, pulling a sleigh behind him.

"Oi, reindeer! We fixed the ropeway down!" Luffy yelled out to him.

"Everyone, get on!" Chopper screamed back. "We'll be going down the mountain right now!"

"What? There's no need to hurry, Chopper!" Bear yelled.

Behind the reindeer came a furious Kuerha, hurtling knives in their direction.

"Hurry, Chopper!" Bear restated. She scooped up Sanji and jumped in the sleigh, everyone piling in behind her. "Thank you for treating me, Doctor Kureha!"

"You owe me money!"

"Uh, reindeer?" Zoro turned towards Chopper. "You're about to pull us right of the mountain!"

As the sleigh slipped off the mountain, they did not fall to their deaths, as expected by Zoro, but instead slid onto a rope. The full moon silhouetted them all, making it look as though they were flying through the air.

Bear looked at the moon as Usopp tried to pull Luffy, who had fallen off, back into the sleigh. It shown down upon them with a mystic glow, bathing the group in a white light. She couldn't take her eyes off it.

"Yue sure is beautiful tonight."

Vivi turned her head towards Bear. "Who?"

"The moon."

OoOoOoO

Dalton stood behind Kureha. "Are you fine with a goodbye like that?"

"Hee hee hee... Now I won't have to feed a pet that I was forced to take care of!" Something wet was leaking from her eyes. "I'm not one for sad goodbyes..." She wiped her eyes and turned towards Dalton. "Now follow me!"

"Oww!"

"We have to make it in time, before they set sail!"

They ran to the side of the castle. Every cannon in the Drum Kingdom was encircled around the structure, pointing straight upwards.

"Are the preparations complete!?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Then fire!"

"Listen, Kureha. This powder..."

The cannons each fired with a blast of sound.

Dalton addressed Kureha. "What're you planning, exac-"

"Just shut up and watch."

"All shots fired, Doctor Kureha!" Someone saluted.

"Them light'er up!"

OoOoOoO

All across the land in a Kingdom once called Drum, the people on the snowy streets pointed and exclaimed in awe as their eyes took in the sight before them. The wildlife in the forests stopped and stared. Even the Straw-hat Pirates had stopped their sleigh so they could properly see it.

A wracking sob worked its way up Chopper's throat.

"Whoooaaaa!" Luffy gasped.

"You said it." Zoro agreed.

The sob broke its way out of Chopper and into the air.

"It's so pretty..." Nami cooed.

And with an outcry of emotion, the reindeer's heart was mended.

The sky above the mountain which the castle rested on was tinted a deep pink. It dyed the snowflakes as they floated down, making them look like cherry blossoms falling in the spring. The mountain itself looked like a great tree trunk.

Cherry Blossoms were blooming on a Snowy Winter Island.

OoOoOoO

"Hmm..." Kureha hummed and gulped down her drink. "They must've left the island by now..."

"The reindeer that inherited both the best medical skills and the heart required for a doctor..."

"If Hiluluk's Cherry Blossoms really did cause a miracle, then it's the fact that a timid little reindeer like him decided to venture the seas..." Kureha grinned. "He was acting all tough like a man for a moment there, hee hee hee..."

"I'm sure this country will change, just like him..."

"Dalton-san!" Two people ran over to the pair. "Look! We just remembered that we ought to show you this!"

"Show me what?"

"This! Look!" A poster was shoved into his hands, with the word 'WANTED' and a picture of a smiling boy in a straw-hat. "That's him! No doubt about it!"

"A wanted pirate with a bounty of 30 million beli..."

"Oh?" Kureha drank. "Well, isn't he quite the notorious villain?"

"Where did you get this?" Dalton asked.

The three began to discuss something, while Kureha grabbed the poster out of Dalton's hands. She studied it intensely.

"Doctor Kureha... What're staring at that poster for?" One of the men eventually asked her.

"Do you know of Gol D. Roger?"

"D...? You mean Gold Roger? Well, yeah, who doesn't know about him?"

"So is that what the people call him these days? Seems my reindeer and that girl have gone off with a very dangerous man indeed..." Kureha grinned. "It seems the Will of D is still alive..."

They all sat and looked at the snow in silence for a bit. Then,

"Oh, by the way, Doctor Kureha?"

"Yeah?"

"Were you the source of that light a few nights ago as well?"

"Huh? What light?"

"Oh, you don't know about it, then? The other night, it seems there was a bright light above the kingdom. Some people even report seeing something fall out of it!"

Dalton looked at Kureha, Kureha back at Dalton.

"Well, I'll be..." She chuckled. "What an interesting girl..."

OoOoOoO

The waves gently rocked the Going Merry, the boat of the Straw-hat Pirates.

"Ahahahaha!" Luffy was running around the deck, chopsticks sticking out of his nose and into his mouth.

"The full moon is out and the Cherry Blossoms are in bloom! What a night!"

"Chopper! Hey, Chopper! How long are ya gonna sit there moping!?" Usopp walked towards Chopper, who was sitting on the railing and staring towards the sky. "Come and drink with us!"

"Yo Nami, look!" Luffy was still dancing. "I learned this from Yosaku!"

"Guys!" Nami yelled at them. "Would it kill you to pay some attention over here, too!?"

"What? Those two look alive to me."

"Yeah, barely!" Bear screamed back at him. She was slowly moving small flames over a large duck, which Vivi was clinging to.

"Carue! What were you doing out frozen in the river!?"

The large duck, Carue, was apparently Vivi's pet, and had been found floating in the frozen arctic river.

"Maybe he slipped and fell in?" Zoro drunkenly offered. "Haha, clumsy lil' guy."

"You stay quiet, Mr. Bushido!"

"He said he saw someone called 'Zoro' disappear in the river, so he jumped inside to rescue him, but ended up becoming frozen." Chopper informed them all.

"So this was your fault!" Nami slapped the back of Zoro's head.

While Bear was laughing at Zoro, Vivi asked, "You can understand what Carue is saying, Tony-kun?"

"Well, I was originally a normal animal, so I can communicate with other animals."

"That's amazing, Chopper!" Nami praised with a clap, "You're not only well versed in medical skills, but you can talk to animals, too!?"

"Sh-shut up!" Chopper danced around. "That doesn't make me happy one bit, you idiot!"

"Wait, Nami-san," Sanji interrupted, "What do you mean by medical skills?"

Nami told them.

"Whaaaaat!? Chopper, you're a doctor!?"

"If you didn't know that, then why on earth did you invite him aboard?"

"He's a cool reindeer that can transform into 7 different forms, duh." Luffy said.

"Emergency food supply." Sanji said.

Chopper tried to run away, while Usopp commented, "I thought you were going to be the doctor, Bear. You said you're a healer, right?"

Bear had finished with Carue and stood up. "Yeah, but I don't know much about medicine or anything like that. I can heal physical wounds, but not illnesses."

"Oh no!" Chopper exclaimed, "I forgot to bring my medical supplies because I was too busy trying to escape!"

"Huh? Then what's this?" Nami hefted a bag up. "It was on the sleigh."

"My backpack! But how!?"

"How? I thought you put it there. No?"

"It must've been Kureha who put it there." Bear commented, sitting down next to Chopper, who's eyes looked watery as he sat with his backpack. "She may have never said it, but she probably loved you like a so-"

"Ahahahaha!" Usopp and Luffy broke in, both of them doing the chopstick routine now.

"Keep it down over there!" Nami admonished, also sitting next to Chopper.

"Hey Chopper, Bear, you guys wanna try, too?"

Both promptly had chopsticks shoved into their mouths and noses.

Usopp blew a whistle, then, holding out a pint of alcohol. "Attention, everybody! Ahem." He stood above them all, speaking loudly. "I'd like to welcome our new friends-"

"Carue, you drank too much!"

"Quack!"

"Hey, Cook! Bring some snacks to go along with the drinks!"

"What did you say to me!? I'm not your servant, pal!"

"-Doctor Tony Tony Chopper, and Mystery Girl Bear!"

"Sanji! Do we have anymore dino meat!? We packed a whole bunch, didn't we!?"

"This is-" Chopper started to say.

"And so!" Usopp continued. "I'd like to propose a toast on this occasion!"

Sanji and Zoro fought. Luffy cheered on. Vivi worried over Carue. Carue took another drink. Nami grinned.

"This is the first time I've ever been so happy!"

"Me too." Bear agreed. The crew had accepted her without any hesitation. Here, she felt welcomed. She felt like she belonged.

"To our new friends!" Usopp cheered. "Kanpai!"

As she looked down at the reflection of the moon on her pint, Bear felt that everything was going to be fine.

"Kanpai!"