" Come here! »

Nami was, at the moment, crouching behind a bush. In front of her, she had just placed a pile of berries. Her plan was simple: lure the rodents with the food and capture them.

Finally, after several minutes of waiting, one of the two ptiloduses appeared in her field of vision. Enticed by this '' buffet '', it went to the pile of fruit to enjoy the feast. Busy eating, it didn't hear Nami slowly approaching it, hands outstretched.

" Easy! Gently ! »

When she was close enough to it, she threw herself on the rodent. Unfortunately, the animal had already started to run away before she had time to immobilize it. On top of that, Nami had landed right in the pile of berries and was now covered in red juices.

" Damn! Missed ! She grumbled, wiping her face. " Too bad Shirahoshi couldn't help us!" He's the only person who can approach them without scaring them! »

For his part, Luffy adopted the same plan as his friend. However, he was so slow, because of his condition, that the rodents always had time to finish their berries whenever he wanted to catch them.

"We have to hurry! If we don't hurry, everyone will end up dying!"

"MY EYES ! MY EYES ! " Oven cried, straightening in pain and slapping his hands in front of his eyeballs.

Just like those of Daifuku, blood escaped from these and they had almost doubled in size.

"I don't want to die." The boy cried.

These were the only words he could utter before collapsing to the ground. Dead.

Hearing his second brother die, Perospero grumbled.

"Katakuri...where are you?

Asking himself the same question, Law groaned, while he was certain that his eyes were burning in a real inferno.

" Strawhat-ya and Nami certainly can't succeed without him. "

"Luffy, let's take a break." Nami offered him. "You must be exhausted! Especially since your condition doesn't allow you to do more."

"I'm fine! Don't worry about me." Luffy lied, trying to show him that he was fit to continue.

" He didn't notice. Nami noted, staring at him. " He didn't notice his eyes getting redder and redder. " "

Luffy threw himself on the rodent in front of him again and again he missed. The animal, surely annoyed to be harassed in this way, began to run in the direction of the forest and crossed the vegetation.

" Let's not lose sight of it. " Luffy exclaimed, running after it, followed by Nami.

Quickly passing Luffy, Nami resigned herself to leaving him behind, to focus on capturing the squirrel. The small rodent, for its size, ran extremely fast. So quickly that she regularly lost track of it, before finding it when he fled behind a bush or in another hiding place.

"If you think you can escape me, you're wrong! I'm as stubborn as a mule! No way to let you go."

After several minutes of running, through vegetation that scratched her skin and almost twisted her ankles, Nami finally arrived in a meadow.

"Where are you?" Nami cried, looking around.

Trying to find the ptilodus she was chasing, the redhead suddenly stopped. Behind her, managing to get out of the forest, Luffy showed his exhaustion, while his legs trembled.

Exhausted, he ends up kneeling on the ground before catching his breath. It was only when he raised his head that he noticed that many rhinos were in front of him. Staring at them, Nami couldn't help but swallow.

"A herd of Arsinotheriums..." She scared herself, recognizing the animals that were identical to the one that lived near the lake.

There were a good fifteen of them of all ages gathered. She saw a few busy fighting each other, goring each other. Others were resting, lying on the ground. And the last ones were gobbling up clusters of red berries which they were eating from the bushes. Nami immediately turned her attention to them.

"They are eating berries too ! Are they dying?"

The ptilodus they were chasing had found refuge on the back of one of the pachyderms which hadn't even felt it.

"Why are they here and not near the cave?" Luffy asked.

"This herd has always been here." Nami understood. "I think it was the individual near the lake, who had lost track of its companions and wandered off."

Seeing one of the animals eaten the berries, Luffy dared to get up, before approaching it.

"Luffy! Be careful." Nami advised him. "Even though they're sick, they're..."

Nonetheless, looking into the animal's eyes, she froze, noticing that its eyes were black, not red.

"That's weird! They..."

Suddenly, the rhinoceros jerked its head around and nearly bumped into Luffy, who lost his balance, before falling to the ground. The animal then began to blow through its nostrils, a sign that the duo was certainly not welcome on their territory.

" They are more aggressive than the lake one. Nami remarked. " So this is their true character!" But they are eating poison berries! So why are they still healthy? »

At that moment, Nami saw the ptilodus, which they were trying to catch, leave its refuge and approach a berry bush. Observing it, the redhead noticed that the shrub also had flowers in its foliage. The animal just approached its muzzle to one of them and began to bite into it.

"It is eating a flower? Nami wondered. "But since when do rodents eat flowers?" »

The Ptilodus was imitated by several rhinos which ate both the flowers and the fruits of the bushes. It was seeing them do that Nami started to think of a theory. A theory allowing me to understand how they managed to eliminate the poison in their body.

"These flowers! There were also some in some bushes where we practiced our picking! Could it be...?"

Lost in her thoughts, she saw only at the last moment, an Arsinotherium which rushed at her. She only had her life thanks to Luffy who jumped towards me and pinned her to the ground. His gesture knocked them out of the path of the rhino's charge.

"They're attacking us." Nami frightened, starting to get up. "You have to get away from them."

However, receiving no response, she saw Luffy stay on the ground, as he seemed to have passed out.

" Luffy ? "

Red-faced and breathing hard, the boy showed that he had reached his limit and the disease was taking over.

"No, Luffy." Nami shouted, shaking him. " It is not the moment. "

Hearing heavy footsteps, she turned, to see several of the pachyderms watching them, scraping the ground with their feet.

"If we move, they will charge us. " Nami understood, not even daring to breathe. "But if we stay here, they'll do the same!" It's not true! Just when I thought I had discovered what would save us. »

Another rhinoceros, more imposing than the first, decided to charge them in turn and rushed at the duo...

" It is the end ! "

…before stopping after a rock was thrown at it, before hitting its eye.

" What ? " Nami wondered.

The Arsinotherium gave up any desire to continue attacking them and tried to scratch its sore eye with one of its paws.

" But how … ? " Nami asked.

A hand suddenly grabbed her by the back of my top and lifted her off the floor. Turning her head back, she saw the owner of this hand. Immediately, she was thrilled and angry, recognizing the face of the person who had just saved her.

"KATAKURI!"

Katakuri appeared with a stoic face and his trident in his hand. Needless to say, it was he who had just injured the Arsinotherium.

"Where have you been, asshole?" Nami roared, though she couldn't help but be relieved to know he was near her.

"I tried to find a solution to our problem." The boy affirmed.

"Huh ? In that case,..."

Thinking of the most important, Nami gestured for Katakuri to let her go, before kneeling beside Luffy.

"Luffy!" Nami worried.

"Don't worry! He looks like he just passed out." Katakuri assured her. "This guy really is unbelievable! Trying so hard when he's so close to dying! I swear, there really are some fools in the world."

"But where was...?" Nami began, staring at him.

Silent, the young girl noticed that her savior's eyes weren't as black as before. In truth, they seemed to have turned quite red.

" You also ? "

"That's why I hate fruit." He growled, as his eyes began to burn. "In our case, there is no possible doubt as to the cause of the evil that eats away at us from within! We are in this state because of a poison contained in these red berries! Besides, we have eaten them without knowing that the latter was causing hemorrhages in the eyes! But…"

He stopped to stare at one of the rhinos that was heading towards them. Immediately, Katakuri charged towards the animal, twirling his trident. Then, continuing to move straight ahead, he ended up leaning his body back, before sliding, which allowed him to pass between the animal's legs.

Now under the pachyderm's body, he continued to twirl his weapon, before piercing one of the rhino's legs. Immediately crying out in pain, the Arsinotherium stopped, while Katakuri appeared behind it, before running back to Nami.

"Sugoi!" Nami said, seeing him do it.

Nevertheless, knowing their priority, Katakuri preferred to put his achievement aside before declaring.

"Did you know that the poison contained in the body of fugu fish or scorpions can be canceled by the deadly poison of aconite plants, in small quantities?" Asked the boy. "The fact that rhinos can eat the berries safely is that they also eat the flower from the bush that contains the antidote we seek."

"So that means…" Nami began, running to the bush closest to her, before picking one of her flowers. "...that if Luffy eats this, he will heal."

"Probably." Katakuri replied.

Hearing this, Nami immediately came back to them and leaned over Luffy. She then made him open his mouth and introduced the plant. The problem was that, since he was unconscious, he could neither chew nor swallow the plant.

"Damn it ! How do I get him to swallow it?" Nami asked.

Katakuri suddenly took it by the arm and carried it with him to the side. This gesture allowed the girl to avoid, in extremis, a horn blow which was intended for her.

"It becomes problematic. " The boy thought, starting to leave. " Mixing the red berries with those flowers is probably the cure! If we eat these flowers, we should be able to neutralize the poison of the berries! The problem is that Mugiwara is much too weak to be able to swallow anything! And besides, those idiot pachyderms are coming after me one after the other. »

He just dodged an attack from one of the rhinos, when Nami broke free from his grip and lunged at Luffy. She then tackled him to the ground before kissing him under Katakuri's surprised gaze.

" But what is she doing?" »

If Luffy had been conscious, he could have felt something running down his throat. When Nami removed her mouth from his, she spat out a small dose of a white substance.

"Did he manage to swallow it?" she asked, wiping her mouth.

" I understood. " Katakuri thought, identifying what she had just spit out. " She chewed the plant and gave it to him by mouth to mouth!" It's very smart! »

He immediately picked up Luffy's body and, as he left the meadow with Nami, he picked some flowers along the way.

"How can we be sure it worked?" Nami questioned.

"We don't have time to make sure he gets cured! We have to get the others to eat those flowers first and then see if it works."

"What if it's not the right remedy?"

"Besides you and maybe me, everyone dies." Katakuri replied simply.

This response sent shivers through Nami's body, who didn't appreciate what he had just said at all. Still, she had to admit that he was once again right in what he said.

"Everyone." Nami shouted. " We are here. "

Once in the cave, Nami and Katakuri hastened to join their companions. Unfortunately, it was Katakuri who saw Oven's corpse, on the ground, with his face covered in blood.

"OVEN!" He shouted, crouching beside him.

Positioning his fingers on the back of his neck, he tried to catch the slightest sign of life. Unfortunately, he quickly ends up screaming.

" DAMN IT ! "

Again, he had just lost one of his brothers.

"It's been a while since he died..."

Perospero, lying on the ground and still conscious, also had two trickles of blood coming out of his eyelids. With the skin on his face extremely sallow, the redness in his eyes was even more noticeable. The boy seemed to be in agony.

"Hey! How are you?" Katakuri questioned, kneeling beside him.

Barely able to turn his head towards him, Perospero saw his brother staring at him, concern visible in his gaze.

"Don't look at me like that...I feel like you're certain I'm going to die."

"Stay with us." Nami told him, showing him the flowers she was holding. "We just found the cure! We're going to save you all."

Still, Perospero only weakly shook his head, while declaring.

"I believe it won't help."

Knowing what he meant, Katakuri grabbed several flowers and crushed them in his hand.

"You're going to eat this immediately." He said, pointing to the crushed flowers.

Barely glancing at him, Perospero told him.

"You didn't act like that when you yelled at me after the monkey attack."

"Damn it, open your mouth." Katakuri ordered him, trying to get his fingers inside his brother's jaws.

However, no sooner did he do that than he saw blood coming out of Perospero's mouth.

" That ... ? "

Then collapsing slightly on his side, Perospero remained motionless for a few seconds, before declaring.

"I want to go home! I want to see the others again! I want to see them again..."

Suddenly, the blood that came out of his eyes looked like tears as he said.

" I don't want to die. "

Then, suddenly, he opened his mouth wide, but no sound came out. Helpless, Katakuri saw his brother writhing in pain, before finally collapsing to the ground, never to move again.

"That's not true." Nami whispered. " He is dead ? "

Suddenly, a crashing sound was heard. It was raised silently, Katakuri suddenly hit the wall with his fist. Trying to take away some of his rage, he hit the rock face so hard he broke his knuckles. Still, trying to use the pain to calm himself, the boy took a long breath.

"Take care of the others." He ordered, making sure not to show his face to Nami. "My brothers couldn't be saved but we can always try with the others! I'm going to bury these two."

"What? But…"

"Crush the flowers until they're liquid enough for them to drink! Do you understand?"

It was then that Nami saw a tear roll down the boy's cheek. Katakuri had just lost his three brothers in the space of 24 hours and it was obvious that anyone would be devastated if they found themselves in the same situation as him. He wanted to be alone to mourn the death of his family members. The young girl understood her pain and preferred not to waste any more time.

"Okay! You can count on me."

And so it was that, while Katakuri was taking the two dead to the place where he had buried Daifuku, Nami, on a palm leaf, crushed the flowers, thanks to a stone, as the boy had explained to him.

"Hold on." She begged. "I swear to save you all! Too many people have already died. »

When the mixture was liquid enough for her taste, she gave the four dying a sip. Finishing her tour with Law, she ends up turning to me. For her, now was the time to find out if this ''antidote'' really worked.

"Luffy!" She called out, starting to shake him.

His eyes remained closed, while he remained still asleep.

"Come on! Wake up!" She ordered, shaking him more. "Show me the fighter you are."

Suddenly he opened his eyes. But no sooner had he made this gesture than his hands suddenly flattened themselves on his stomach and he began to wince in pain.

"What's up with you?" Nami asked. "Hey, tell me you're okay. "

"My belly." Luffy said.

"Huh?" She wondered. "What's with your belly?"

Suddenly, a huge noise was produced by Luffy's stomach.

"I'm hungry." He complained.

Hearing this, Nami immediately felt a vein forming in her forehead, as she had a sudden urge to kill Luffy. Yet, knowing full well that he was still ill, she forced herself to calm her anger, all the while affirming.

"You need to rest! Your body is not yet ready to eat properly."

"You managed to find the cure? How are the others?"

"Katakuri and I managed to find the antidote and get you to swallow it! Unfortunately, when we got back here, Oven had already passed away and it was too late to save Perospero."

"Where's Kaku-i?" Luffy wanted to know, noting that he wasn't there.

" He left … "

She narrowly refrained from saying "alone to mourn Perospero and Oven's death."

"...to bury his two brothers."

Without Luffy knowing the reason, a heavy silence suddenly fell in the cave. After a few seconds, he finally speaks again.

" Nami ! "

" Yes ? "

"Thank you for what you just did to save us."

Then, Luffy suddenly started to wince. Then, before Nami came to his aid, he closed his eyes a second time and fell unconscious.

Katakuri placed his hand on the forehead of the sole survivor of his group.

"How is she?" Luffy asked him, sitting against the wall of the cave.

Fortunately for him, the remedy had finally worked very well. Overnight, his fever was gone and the redness in his eyes gradually gave way to a brownish color.

However, in return, he now had to ingest a horrible flower porridge, twice a day, under Nami's recommendations. Sanji slept peacefully on his bed of leaves, while he was almost completely healed.

As for the others, Tashigi and Shirahoshi also seemed to lose the redness of their eyes. Regarding Law, he was also sitting against one of the walls of the cave, and writing huge paragraphs on his computer.

Having heard that the group had panicked for a long time, when he had fallen ill, he had decided to write entire paragraphs, serving to summarize the information gathered in his databases. That way, the next time he was sick, he hoped that Nami or Shirahoshi could more easily find crucial information on his computer.

"It's okay! She doesn't seem to have a fever anymore." Katakuri affirmed, removing his hand from Tashigi's forehead, without emitting the slightest sign of satisfaction.

"Really?" Luffy asked. " This is a good thing. "

Yet he continued to stare at the person who had just saved him from certain death and he noticed that he had to be frank with him.

"You saved us, Kaku-i! When the rhinos attacked us, if you hadn't been there, everyone would be dead by now! If you had disappeared, it was to find out the origin of the disease, isn't it?

"Indeed." The boy agreed, standing up. "Its mode of transmission was not clear and the symptoms were too virulent! To tell you the truth, it was seeing the eyes of the Arsinotherium when I took a walk around the lake, that I understood how we had caught this disease!

" So he had guessed everything before us. " Law remarked. " Decidedly, I was wrong to underestimate his intelligence. "

"You really are amazing, Kaku-i." Luffy confessed to him. "When we were in high school, I confess that I always compared you to a bully without the slightest ounce of intelligence! But, in the end, you are quite the opposite! You are really a nice guy. "

No response from him.

" Do you think it's by insulting him that you'll make him your friend?" Law wondered.

Also remaining silent, Luffy thought back to a conversation that Law and Nami had had, just after the arrival of Katakuri and his group. And finally, Luffy saw that Law was right.

"Kaku-i... would you be interested in becoming our leader?"

With Luffy: Law / Shirahoshi / Nami / Sanji

With Katakuri: Tashigi (teacher)

With Ace : Thatch / Moda / Marguerite / Whitey Bay / Namur / Atmos / Goldenweek / Gaimon / Squardo / Tate

Other passengers: Usopp / Coby / Vivi / Zoro / Chopper / Johnny / Yosaku / Kid / Wapol / Musshru / Smoker (teacher)

Died: Dalton (pilot) / Kaya / AO / Mero / Curiel / T-Bone (teacher) / Koza / Pudding / Apoo / Daifuku / Perospero / Oven

? : Who is who