I want you all to know, this chapter is being written easily a month after chapter 18. I suppose being so far ahead in chapters can really help, huh?
Also ironically enough it's the last chapter I have prewritten. Chapter 20 isn't done yet, and hasn't been for a month. I suppose being so ahead really help huh?
I've decided for my own sake I'm not going to read the manga so religiously to retell the events to you guys. It's boring, and quite frankly I feel it doesn't help me write any better.
Enjoy!
The first thing Nami realised was that her body was very warm. Not uncomfortably so, it was actually very nice. There was a cloth of some kind on her forehead, and she could tell the bed underneath her was very fluffy. Where was she again?
The mountain. The climb. Luffy and the others.
Forcing her eyes open, Nami tilted her head around to get a look at what was going on. She could tell from the looks of things she was in some sort of medical facility, what with all the bandages and meds laying around. Slowly sitting up, she rubbed her forehead and groaned as her head spun. What had happened to her? How had she gotten so sick?
A noise alerted her, and she looked up to see what had happened. She watched in relative confusion as a small, fluffy creature walked into the room, carrying a load of bloody bandages in it's arms. It waddled right past her and towards some sort of receptacle, ditching the bandages there.
"Um, hello?" She asked weakly, voice hoarse. The creature freaked out at her voice, dropped the tray it was carrying and stared at her in surprise. They watched each other for a moment before it freaked out again and ran for the doorway, hiding behind it. At least it tried too, he was actually totally visible.
"...A-Are you feeling okay?" It asked, voice high and unstable. She couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, much less what it even was anyway. If she had to guess though, it was a reindeer.
"I'm feeling good," she said. "Did you take care of me? Thank you." The creature seemed happy at her praise, but refused to look at her as the smile over over their face.
"I-It was Doctorine that helped you more than me!" They shouted. "B-But I'm glad you're feeling good, I-I guess." Nami watched the creature in confusion, not sure what to say to him. After a moment or two, more memories of what had happened the past few days came back to her.
"Excuse me," she said. "Um, are my friends nearby? I don't think I was alone." The creature hadn't calmed himself at all, but he nodded.
"The man that had the same sickness is through here," he said, nodding backwards. "The other three are being tended to by Doctorine."
"Can I see them?" She asked. "I'm worried about them." The fluffy animal made a face, seemingly thinking her request over. After a few moments, he sighed and walked over to some medical supplies, grabbing a cane. He then walked back over to her and gave it too her.
"Use that," he said without looking at her. "You should still be pretty weak." Nami nodded, kicking the blankets off and using the cane to stabilise herself. He was right, she still could barely stand. That being said, it wasn't going to stop her. Following behind the small Doctor, Nami walked through the door to find another bed, Yosaku lying in it. Smiling weakly she sat down next to him and patted his head. His fever had gone down significantly, at least it felt like it should have.
"Yosaku," she said softly. "Wake up you big dolt." After a few more light taps, the swordsman grunted and scrunched up his face in annoyance.
"Five more minutes, Mom." He muttered, making Nami roll her eyes.
"It's Nami, you moron." She said. Yosaku seemed confused by this, but soon his eyes opened weakly to look at her.
"Nami?" He asked weakly. She nodded, and he just watched her in confusion before his eyes lit up. "Nami! Are you okay?! You're up!"
"I could ask you the same thing, stupid." She said. "We both came down with whatever that was. How're you feeling?"
"Still pretty bad," Yosaku replied as he rubbed his face. "I feel hot all over, but I don't feel like I'm dying." Nami agreed with that diagnosis. She didn't feel up to snuff, but she also didn't feel like death. That was good.
"Chopper!" A woman's voice rang out, startling the small creature nearby. "Where is the redhead?!"
"S-She's over here, Doctorine!" The small creature, presumably named Chopper, said. "She wanted to see her friend!" Looking up, Nami watched as an older woman carrying a bottle of booze walked into the room. She has glasses resting on her forehead, and she looked pretty irritated.
"You wanna die, kid?" She demanded in Nami's direction. "It's barely been five minutes you've been well enough to talk and you're up walking over here."
"I wanted to see my friend," Nami replied. "And I felt okay enough to do it. Did you save us?" The Doctor shrugged, took a sip of the booze and laughed, Chopper leaving the room to go somewhere else.
"I did," she replied. "Name's Dr. Kureha, but you can call me Doctorine." The women walked over and placed a hand on Nami's head, nodded and did the same to Yosaku. "38 degrees huh?" She asked. "At least it's going down."
"What happened to us?" Nami asked. "We thought we were going to die." Doctor Kureha simply reached forward and pulled Nami's shirt up, much to her surprise. On her abdomen was purple marks, which looked pretty horrific now that she saw them.
"What's that?" She asked. "You want to know my secret to eternal youth?"
"I didn't say that," Nami replied. Kureha laughed.
"You both got bitten by a bug called Kestia." She replied as she let go of Nami's shirt. "It's an ancient bug, so I don't know how you two got bit. Are you running around in ancient jungles without a shirt on?"
"Uh..." Nami and Yosaku stuttered at once, both reminded of the clothes Usopp had singed off of them on Little Garden. He'd done it to save them obviously, so Nami wasn't mad. Just an unintended consequence.
"I'm assuming that's a yes," Kureha said. "Well anyway, the bug causes an intense fever and sickness, accompanied by vicious inflammation. It's often referred to as the Five Day Disease."
"Five Day Disease?" Yosaku asked. "So we'd of been fine in a few days, then?" Kureha shrugged.
"In a sense," she said. "Cause you die in five days." Nami's eyes widened at this, a pit widening in her stomach.
"Seriously?" She asked. Kureha nodded.
"Indeed," she said. "So you're lucky I still had some antibiotic lying around. And to think I was going to get rid of it."
"I guess we are pretty lucky," Nami replied. "Thanks for helping us."
"Don't even try and leave, you." Kureha said. "It'll take three days at least for you to by able to be up and about. You're still in pretty bad shape." This was bad news. They hadn't really had time for this detour in the first place, but to wait three more days? What was going to happen to Alabasta?
"That's not good," Yosaku said, speaking her mind. "We have stuff to do."
"Is it more important that surviving?" Kureha demanded. Before anyone could say another word, a screech echoed from somewhere else in the castle. Nami turned to watch as a door exploded inwards, Chopper sprinting inside, Luffy was in hot pursuit, his mouth watering. Nami noted that bandages covering the Captain's entire body, worrying her. What had happened to him?
"Come back here, meat!" Luffy shouted as Chopper ran away.
"Big Bro Luffy!" Another voice said. Nami watched as Johnny burst in the door next, brandishing his blade. "Meat that isn't dead yet needs to be properly skinned! Allow me to help you!" Johnny's hands were also covered in bandages, as well as his face. All things considered though, he seemed to be in better shape than Luffy.
"Are you morons done yet?!" A third voice asked. Nojiko appeared in the door, also with bandages hands and face. She whipped Johnny on the back of the head with her pistol, making him drop his blade.
"Ow!" He shouted.
"It's not just an animal, you idiots!" She shouted as Luffy chased Chopper around the room. "He's talking and everything!"
"Talking?" Luffy asked as he grabbed Chopper by the leg, looking at him. "You can do that?"
"Of course I can!" Chopper shouted. "Do I look like a normal reindeer to you?!"
"Well your nose is blue, so no." Luffy replied. Chopper looked stunned at the Captain's somewhat dumb answer, but Nami found herself missing it. She had been out for a few days, after all.
"Are you right in the head?" Chopper demanded as Luffy released him. Luffy just laughed.
"I dunno," he answered.
"No," Nami said. It was then that the three injured crew mates seemed to notice Nami and Yosaku were up and talking.
"Nami!" Nojiko shouted, practically pouncing her sister with a hug as Johnny and Luffy pounced them too. "You're okay! How are you feeling?!"
"It's hard to tell when I'm being crushed!" Nami shouted, her back crunching from the hugs she was getting. The trio quickly moved onto Yosaku, giving Nami time to look at them. They were clearly all hurt somewhat, and that bothered her.
"Are you guys okay?" She asked. "You're bandaged up."
"We're fine," Luffy replied. "We were more worried about you."
"Fine?" Kureha demanded as Chopper failed at hiding behind her legs. "The three of you had vicious frostbite, Straw Hat most of all. Why were you wandering around with no clothes on?"
"Well what was I supposed to do?" Luffy asked. "The lapins tore them up. I couldn't turn back for a coat."
"And you, blue haired girl." Kureha said, ignoring Luffy. "You almost lost a few fingers. Swordsman too. Although I suppose you deserve that for crossing that rope so high up."
"Rope?" Nami asked, feeling lost. Luffy gestured out the window.
"We crossed a really high up rope with our hands to get here," he said.
"It also snapped about halfway here," Johnny said as he put his blade away.
"I thought I was gonna die," Nojiko said as she picked at the bandages on her face, seemingly to scratch herself. Nami was at a loss. Had they really done all of that to get them to a Doctor? That was insane. As the crew argued with the Doctor, Nami felt gratitude rush through her entire body. They'd nearly gotten themselves killed to save her and Yosaku. She'd have to return the favour someday.
"Hey Doc," Luffy said as Nami tuned back into the conversation. "What's up with that reindeer anyway?"
"My name is Chopper!" Chopper shouted, still failing to hide. Kureha just laughed at the exchange.
"Chopper's a reindeer," she said. "Although he's obviously not a normal reindeer. He ate the Human-Human fruit as a baby, so now he's got human level intelligence. I taught him about medicine cause he was interested. That's about it."
"Huh, cool." Luffy said. "You're cool Chopper!" Chopper seemed surprised by this, but his cheeks still flushed.
"Human-Human fruit?" Nojiko asked. "Weird. What would happen if a human ate that?"
"They'd be a Human Human." Johnny reasoned. "Twice the human." Nojiko made a face at the swordsman, who seemed proud of his conclusion. Nami also saw her sister hand twitch near her pistol, which made her chuckle to herself.
"In any case, that's awesome!" Luffy said. "Yo, reindeer! Join my crew."
"Hah?!" Everyone shouted at once, Luffy looking confused.
"What?" He asked.
"No way!" Chopper said. "You guys are pirates! I've got no interest in joining a bunch of outlaws!"
"That'd be a weird addition," Yosaku said. "But he is trained in medicine."
"Exactly!" Luffy shouted. "And we need a Doctor on board!"
"That explains why neither of you had any sign of treatment." Kureha said as she gestured to Yosaku and Nami. "You seriously don't have a Doctor on the Grand Line?"
"Well we're shopping for one," Nami said with a weak laugh.
"You wanna join old lady?" Luffy asked. "I could do with either of you! Maybe even both!"
"Nice try," Kureha replied. "I'm too old to be gallivanting around with such young pirates."
"But we need a Doctor!" Luffy complained.
"And with all the trouble we get into it's kinda necessary." Nami muttered under her breath.
"I'm sure you could find a younger Doctor that's far more fitting for you than me," Kureha replied. "Chopper, do me a favour and go close the door it's freezing."
"I'll do my best," Chopper replied, swiftly leaving the room. Everyone watched him leave quietly, before Kureha sighed.
"That boy, I swear." she said. This made everyone turn to her quietly.
"What about him?" Nojiko asked. Kureha chugged her booze before speaking.
"I think we really does want to go with you guys," she said. "Pirates and all that stuff...He thinks he hides his interest in it. He's not good at hiding how he feels about things."
"So how to do you figure he wants to join us?" Johnny asked. "He seemed pretty adamant about not wanting that."
"To you guys, maybe." Kureha replied. "But he's pretty bad at hiding how he feels generally."
"That doesn't answer his question." Nami said pointedly. Kureha laughed.
"Sassy little brat, aren't ya?" She asked, making Nami chortle. "Alright, I'll tell ya."
And so Kureha told them. She told them how Chopper had been ostracised from his group at birth thanks to his blue nose. How he was treated like crap for being different. How he was practically left on his own.
Until he ate the Human-Human fruit.
As if he hadn't had it rough already, Chopper was now flat out rejected by his herd, who now wanted nothing to do with him at all. They even attacked him to get ride of him. Rejected by his first family, Chopper attempted to to change into a human form and join humans so that he couldn't be alone. That didn't work either, as the people there saw him as some sort of wild animal and shot at him, trying to get rid of him. Rejected by everyone, with no one who accepted him, Chopper had no one.
And, of course, the story sent Johnny and Yosaku into hysterics.
"Little Bro Chopper!" Johnny shouted as tears practically jettisoned out from behind his glasses. "You live such a tortured life! I want to help you!"
"What a strong little reindeer he is!" Yosaku cried as he clutched at Nojiko, who was paying more attention to Kureha.
"He does have it rough," Kureha said. "There was one man, though. Someone who treated Chopper right. He was a fool though. A quack. But he gave him the time of day. The foolish Hiriluk."
Vivi was cold. She was anxious. But mostly cold. Maybe because she was lying in a snow heap waiting for Usopp to see something.
"What are they doing?" She asked weakly as she rubbed at her arms.
"They're just walking," Usopp replied as he followed the group of Baroque Works agents with the scope on his rifle. "They haven't really done anything yet."
"Cause we're in the middle of nowhere," Sanji said from Vivi's right. He puffed on his cigarette a bit, which was really the only heat Vivi could feel. "We should just deal with them."
"When they have the numbers disadvantage?" Vivi demanded. "Not a good idea."
"I agree," Usopp said as he looked over at them. "And democracy means we win, Sanji!"
"I know how democracy works, you chump!" Sanji said angrily. "I'm just saying, we can't let them stop Luffy and the others!"
"You think they aren't at the Doctor yet?" Vivi asked.
"I don't know," Sanji said. "But what I do know is they're here for you. That's a given. But they're bad guys. we shouldn't even let them into a town, much less get to that castle."
"Well if they're after Vivi than we shouldn't engage them at all!" Usopp said. "Vivi needs to be protected!"
"Well so do these people!" Vivi countered. "If I cared more about myself than others, we wouldn't have stopped for Nami and Yosaku!"
"Exactly," Sanji replied. "And with how these guys have operated so far, I fear for any towns they happen across. Isn't Cocoa Weed near here?"
"Who knows, we've been lost for God knows how long." Usopp said. "I don't know where we are."
"My point still stands," Sanji said. "Besides, you're a sniper. Snipe them."
"But..." Usopp started. "L-Luffy doesn't like killing! Remember that?"
"Who said kill them?" Sanji demanded. "Shoot their legs out. Their arms. I never said blast their skulls in."
"Three of those four have Devil Fruit powers," Usopp said. "None of us do. I don't think we should take that risk. Besides, I'm not a good fighter. I don't know about you Vivi, but Sanji can't fight all four at once." Vivi knew Usopp was right. She didn't have much confidence in her fighting against these agents, which would leave Sanji all on his own. They really couldn't take this fight, this was the worst group to run into the agents.
"Should we just wait then?" Vivi asked.
"Wait for what?" Sanji demanded. "I guess we could try and find Marimo, but Lord knows what he's doing."
"Wait up, swordsman!" Zoro looked over his shoulder as Karoo sprinted ahead, confused. Dalton was in his cow form or whatever, chasing after them.
"Karoo, stop!" He said. The duck did as he was told, and Dalton soon caught up to them. "What?" He asked.
"I need to talk to you," he said. "I know that we need to stop Wapol, but it's imperative that I tell you about him first."
"Walk and talk," Zoro replied, Karoo taking off again. This time the duck led Dalton run beside them, allowing them to talk.
"Wapol's eaten the Munch-Munch Fruit, which allows him to practically eat anything he wants. He can use what he eats to power himself up, which can be an issue if he swallows a cannon or gun."
"That's insane," Zoro replied. "Can he eat my swords?"
"Absolutely, which is why I felt the need to warn you." Dalton replied. "If you underestimate him, he'll chomp down on your blades and take them for his own." Zoro didn't like the sound of that. All of these blades were very important to him, one especially. If they got eaten by that stout weirdo, he'd kill him with his bare hands.
"Good to know," Zoro said. "Let's catch this freak,"
"We must stop him," Dalton said again. "Your friends trekked off to the castle to find a Doctor. If he catches them while your friends are hurt, I fear for their safety as well." Zoro growled at this, drawing his blades.
"Agreed," he said. "I'm stopping him before he gets close."
I figured that I should stop before I write Zoro and Dalton vs. Wapol and his boys. I like to write chapters at the three thousand mark, so let's leave it here. I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!