A/N: Thanks for reading! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own this.

An empty courtyard and the curve of a whitewashed peristyle with straight-lined columns. An overwhelming warmth and hot sand shifting beneath her callused heels—baharat spice and calligraphic handwriting, the window jammed open— "Harley." —sharp blue sky and the caravan disappearing on the shuddering horizon— "Harley."

Harley woke with a start, jolted from her old bedroom at the palace to the cold crow's nest of the Strawhat ship. She had to blink for a second as her eyes adjusted to the morning light. When they did, she realized belatedly she'd not only passed out on Sanji—she'd somehow managed to climb on him. Whoops, Harley thought, tempted to laugh. Her arms were around his waist and her face was against his chest, and she'd half-straddled his leg with one of hers.

She shifted backward and tried to roll over while touching Sanji as little as possible, even though at this point they were well past formalities. When Harley sat down on the hardwood floor again she pushed herself to the side to give the cook more personal space. She glanced at him, already surprised he wasn't trilling something stupid, and found him bright red. Ah, thought Harley. She tried not to laugh, though it was harder to resist this time. Speechless it is, then.

Sanji managed to clear his throat. "Ah—um," he started, fumbling for the words. "We both, um, fell asleep. I don't think anything happened, though."

Harley rubbed at her cheek, because the cold wind off the sea was already more evident, and she tugged at her sherpa-lined denim jacket as she struggled to her feet. "Cool," she said. She leaned over the edge of the crow's nest and peered down at the deck. Only Usopp was below, holding up wooden boards to nail them to the ship's railing, continuing to repair the damage Wapol the garbage can had done the afternoon before.

There was no way to tell the time. Harley tried checking the sun, but the entire ocean and sky were shrouded in a pale mist. She faced Sanji, who, the instant she caught sight of him, stopped flailing, straightened up, and adjusted his collar in some attempt to seem cooler. Don't worry, my guy, thought Harley. There is no possible way for me to think you're cool at this point. The attempt was kind of cute, though. "Sorry for falling asleep on you."

"Oh, no worries!" said Sanji brightly. "You can climb on me anytime." He stopped. "Wait. No. I mean—"

Harley winked at him. "I'll keep that in mind," she said, and with that she flung her blanket over one shoulder and strolled over to climb the rope ladder back down to the deck. She landed hard in her white high-tops, and when she turned Usopp had paused in his repairs to study her, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Harley?" said Usopp. He blinked up at the crow's nest just as smoke started to spiral upward from it—he looked at Harley again and leaned back, judgment scrawled across his face. "Harley."

"What?" said Harley innocently.

Usopp canvassed her. "Tell me you didn't."

"Didn't what?"

He tilted his head. "You know."

Harley pushed her hands into the pockets of her borrowed jacket. "No, I don't."

"Oh, please!" returned Usopp. "You're a walking innuendo! I know you know!"

In raising his voice, he lost his grip on the board he was holding and had to windmill an arm to try and catch it before it splashed into the ocean. Harley jumped to help him and grinned as she passed the board back. "Nothing happened. We were just talking because he was the last one up."

Usopp wiped his forehead in relief. "Oh thank God."

Harley snickered and stepped back toward the storage room. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom, but I can help with repairs after."

"Sounds good!"

The morning proceeded to consist of following Usopp around to help with the ship, attempting to protect Nami's tangerine trees with Vivi's help, and asking several times if she could assist Sanji with anything and being rebuffed each time. As the time passed, the mist faded and the calmer and colder climate evened out to a steady ten below, which had Harley borrowing a pair of mustard-brown mittens from Usopp.

When Harley had run out of tasks again and resorted to pacing the ship, Sanji's voice floated down from the crow's nest. "Island dead ahead!"

Harley and Usopp glanced at each other and charged up to the forecastle deck, both running to the railing. Harley peered out and found the shimmering white winter island Sanji must have spotted.

Drafts of cold wind gusted over the ocean as the Strawhats' ship moved closer and closer to the island. Luffy burst out of the storage room to launch himself onto the ram figurehead and Sanji climbed down from the crow's nest to join Harley and Usopp on the forecastle deck, and Harley watched the island, a blistering white against the clear blue sea and sky.

The closer they were, the easier it was for her eyes to adjust to the shine of the snow, and Harley was able to start making out details. The island had enormous pines and a row of the strangest cylindrical plateaus Harley had ever seen. How does that even happen? Harley wondered as she fumbled her camera out to take a couple of quick photos. And come to think of it, how the hell could anyone live out here? Her nose had been unattractively runny for an indecent amount of time and she could already feel it getting worse. And she had to put the camera away fast—it was too cold to keep her mittens off for longer than a minute or two.

Harley then braced her mittened hands against the railing as the ship followed an inlet to a river, leveling out as it did. She leaned over to study the clear river water below, rushing between the glassy, ice-covered rocks that constituted the shore. Her fluttering reflection revealed that she looked kind of tired, but at least the side-braid was working for her, and the beanie was cute. She grinned at herself and glanced back up when the river's end, and a pearly waterfall, came into view.

"It's a stream of melted snow," observed Vivi. Harley found she and Zoro had joined them. Both were in winter coats, and while Vivi had mittens, Zoro hadn't bothered. Harley had to guess he ran hot. Don't I know it! "This may provide a good spot to disembark."

"Okay, guys," announced Zoro as Usopp and Sanji hefted the anchor into the river with a splash. Harley realized the little hairs on the back of her neck were rising, making her uneasy, and she glanced up and around to find nothing but the roughhewn rocks of the shore. "Doctor search. Who wants in? Guess we gotta find people here first."

Luffy's hand shot into the air. "I'm in!"

"Me too!" agreed Sanji.

"Bye!" said Usopp at the same energetic level. "Go have fun!"

"That's far enough, pirates!"

Everyone on deck spun to find the source of the shout. A variety of men and women in long coats with big rifles had surrounded them, at the top of the shore on each side of the ship. Harley automatically stepped backward and over to stand more in front of Vivi. "People!" chirped Luffy. "Well. That was easy."

"Yeah, nice," said Usopp sarcastically. "But they don't seem too friendly."

A massive man in green, broad and well over six feet, stepped forward, his boots crunching in the snow. "I'll only say this once," he called, voice ringing out with authority. "Your kind is not welcome here. Leave immediately."

"We only came here to find a doctor," said Luffy.

"We have someone who's sick!" added Vivi.

"You'll have to do better than that!" snapped someone else, and as a brief argument commenced Harley tried to calculate escape routes. Unless all six of them, including Karoo, were impossibly quick, they were basically fish in a frozen barrel down here. The most Harley could come up with was tackling Vivi to the deck, and she glanced back at her.

Vivi seemed to read her mind, because she shook her head. "We will not get into a fight here," she whispered.

"We'd better not," muttered Harley.

In that instant a bullet ricocheted from the deck, almost hitting Sanji's right foot—Harley jumped and shoved Vivi aside as Usopp shouted, "Look out!"

"That was a big mistake!" snarled Sanji, and he took two running steps toward the shore.

Vivi shrieked, "Sanji, stop!" and flung herself at him—

Time slowed.

A man onshore lifted his rifle and Harley heard shouting, but all she could see was the princess. There was a gunshot in the distance, an echo, and she couldn't even remember moving, but she made it there—she barreled into Vivi and Sanji and sent them crashing into the railing—and a rush of burning lead whizzed past Harley, grazing her shoulder.

She felt blood well in the resulting gash, singeing somehow beneath her borrowed denim jacket, but Harley ignored it—Luffy was moving in her peripheral vision, infuriated, and Harley flailed to snag the hem of his coat. "Don't!" she more barked than said, her heart pounding in her ears and her hands already slick with ink.

"We can't get into a fight!" added Vivi quickly. She faced the shore, mittens pressed against the deck, and called, "It's alright, we won't land." She bowed enough that her pale blue ponytail flipped forward. "But can you please call us a doctor? Our friend is dying from a serious illness—I'm begging you! Please help us!"

"Vivi—" started Luffy, shifting away from Harley.

"You are not fit to be the captain of this ship, Luffy," snapped Vivi. Harley blinked, startled at the accusation, but, she supposed somewhat irritably, she wasn't a leader. Vivi had been trained for royalty since she'd been born. She knows best, thought Harley, and she let go of Luffy to move back, out of the way of the two leaders. "Not everything can be fixed by rushing to start a fight," continued Vivi. She drew in a breath, audibly calming herself down. "We can't get into a fight here. Think about Nami. What would happen to her?"

There was a slow minute of quiet, during which time Harley listened to bated breaths and the rush of the river below the ship. Then Luffy faced their attackers. "Yeah…right," he mused aloud. "I'm sorry about that."

He raised his voice to continue, "Please help us." And with that he bowed beside Vivi, his hat rolling away on the deck. "Call a doctor! Our friend needs you!"

Another minute of quiet passed, longer than the previous. Harley listened to the whistling of wind past the rocks and swishing of river water and spray of the waterfall. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and realized Sanji was trying not to fidget.

At last the man in green spoke. "I'll show you to our village. Follow me."

The people from the island retreated, their footsteps shuffling away. Harley released a breath—it puffed out white in the winter air. Vivi lifted her head to give Luffy a polite little smile. "See?" Vivi said to the Strawhat captain. "Just ask politely."

"Yeah," agreed Luffy, head still on the deck and voice pensive. "You're incredible, Vivi."

The two straightened up together. Luffy reached for his hat with one rubbery arm, and when he'd slapped it on his head he faced Harley. "Are you okay?"

He was looking at her with such attentiveness that Harley was startled. But before she could even consider her answer, Sanji was there, crouching beside her to take her arm and lift it as if to test it. Harley blinked down at the bloodstain that had blossomed on her borrowed denim jacket. "It's—fine," she decided. It had already faded to a steady sting, and although when her arm was up her skin seemed to pull a little, it wasn't horrible. "I don't think it needs stitches."

"Lucky," remarked Sanji as he let go of her arm again and leaned back.

Luffy studied Harley for a second, his dark eyes perceptive. "Good," he said, and he climbed to his feet. He held a hand out and Harley grasped it to pull herself upright. Sanji rose beside her.

As soon as she was standing, Vivi came closer to take her shoulder and turn her. She leaned in to investigate the gash herself. "It doesn't look too bad," she observed. "Are you really alright?"

"Totally," answered Harley with her usual flippancy. "It only hurt for a second—like a strike of lightning. Or love at first sight."

Usopp groaned, Luffy furrowed his eyebrows, Vivi rolled her eyes, and Sanji sighed, enamored with her instant stupid comment. "She's fine," said Vivi, and she patted the top of Harley's head before facing Luffy. "How are we deciding who goes onshore to help Nami?"

As a discussion commenced, Harley took a couple of unobtrusive steps back to turn and lean against the railing that lined the forecastle deck. She flexed her hands, still wet with ink, and watched as ink seeped down into the sleeve of the jacket. Between the rip, the blood, and now this—this thing is screwed. Sorry, Nami.

She heard bootsteps approaching and lifted her head to find Zoro had joined her, his arms folded. He studied her somewhat critically. "Seriously?"

He seemed to be asking a legitimate question rather than making a sarcastic remark. Harley checked to ensure the others were still talking—they were, and Usopp was wailing about yetis—before she answered. "If I can find a bandage, it'll be fine."

"I'll get one."

"Thanks!" chirped Harley as Zoro turned and strode to take the stairs down to the main deck. Sanji caught sight of him and looked back at Harley again, that curly eyebrow lifted in silent question, and she gave him a peace sign and a charming smile. He grinned back with a hint of visible relief that was kind of endearing.

"Hey, Zoro!" shouted Luffy. He bounded toward the railing to call, "D'you wanna come and help Nami?"

The answer came from somewhere near the storage room. "I can watch the ship. And the frozen duck."

Karoo squawked.

"Sounds good!" said Luffy. He galloped over to Harley. "What about you? You wanna come?"

"Sure," said Harley, and Luffy beamed. "But I have to put a bandage on this and find a coat and figure out my hands first, so I can catch up later."

"Hm, okay!" determined Luffy. "We'll ask someone from the village to wait for you." He grinned at Harley, and she felt an automatic smile start to turn up one corner of her mouth. "We're gonna get going, but we'll see you soon!"

Harley wished him—and the group with him—luck, and after a quick minute of preparation they left with Nami. When they were cresting the top of the rocky shore, Harley moved to the railing to peel off her mittens and then her wet bandages. This time she made sure to keep the inky bandages with the denim jacket she also wriggled out of. I'll ask Usopp and hopefully Nami for help with all that later.

Zoro came back taking the steps to the forecastle deck two at a time. "Found one," he said, and he walked over to pass it to her. He'd thought to get her a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a washcloth, too. Harley thanked him and used the hydrogen peroxide and the washcloth to clean the gash out—both the peroxide and the movement made the cold air feel sharper against the wound somehow—before she slapped the bandage on.

At last the gash was taken care of. Harley glanced around to find Zoro, who had already started doing some sort of stretch on the main deck. "Hey, thanks," she said to him. He looked up, and she couldn't resist fluttering her eyelashes. "How can I possibly repay you?"

Zoro snorted. "You can stop flirting at me, for one." He nodded toward Harley. "You should find another coat before you go after Luffy."

"Good idea," agreed Harley. She headed down to the main deck and through the storage room, and she stopped by the bathroom to use it and place the hydrogen peroxide on a shelf, because she wasn't sure what else to do with it. She then descended the steps to Nami's room, where she set down the ruined denim jacket, the washcloth, and the bandages.

The room felt empty in kind of a strange, unsettling way. Harley hurried to sort through the available jackets and unearthed a heavy, functional peach-colored raincoat with flannel lining. It'll have to do, she thought, and she clipped more bandages around her palms before she scrounged up a pair of white wool mittens.

When Harley returned to the main deck, she found Zoro sitting in the middle of it on top of a barrel, his boots and socks off for some reason. "Uh," said Harley as she watched him examine the cauterized wounds on his calves, "I'm gonna go."

"Good luck," said Zoro without looking.

"You too!" said Harley, and after she jogged over to give Karoo a quick pat on the head—he quacked in response—she made for the rocky shore. It took a second to clamber up to the snowdrifts on the top, the gash being tugged at even beneath the bandage, and when she reached the top she immediately found a woman waiting for her.

The woman turned toward Harley as she straightened and tried to shake her injured arm out, teeth gritted. Her gaze flicked over Harley in calculation. "You must be the maid."

Harley released a breath. "Yep," she confirmed bracingly. She strode through crunchy snow to join the woman, pulling her beanie down more as she did. It was somehow even colder up here than it had been on the river, and she felt immediately that her high-tops were not at all appropriate for this weather. They were going to be soaked through in minutes. "I'm Toscano Harley."

The woman turned and the two of them started forward, following a number of slushy tracks in the bright white snow. It hurt to look at it for too long, and Harley blinked rapidly and tried to focus more on the enormous dark pines rustling several feet away on either side of them. This was made more difficult by the snowflakes flurrying in the air, a breeze picking up. "Thanks for waiting," Harley added when it occurred to her.

When the woman just hummed, Harley decided to ask, "Are you part of the guard?"

"None of us are," said the woman, to Harley's surprise. "I'm a seamstress. We're all volunteers." She glanced toward Harley. "We haven't had a monarch out here in a long time, and Dalton is the only person we all trust."

Harley thought about it. He must've been the man in green from before. And he must have some kind of charisma. The Nefertaris were, all in all, pleasant enough, but Harley couldn't imagine anyone in Alabasta opting to drop their jobs to meet pirates at the shore, just in case. Harley squinted ahead as if she'd be able to see Vivi's pale blue ponytail in the distance.

"How long have you been with the pirates?" the woman asked.

Harley opened her mouth to inform her that she was Vivi's lady's maid, not the cabin girl, but she hesitated. "Just a few days," she said instead. Vivi probably wouldn't want her identity floating around this random winter island. "Maybe a week." It sure felt longer, not by any fault of the Strawhats'.

"You have an interesting assortment of characters on your crew," said the woman.

Harley gave a startled laugh. "Yup."

It seemed the woman couldn't come up with any other questions to ask, and Harley had to think for a minute to come up with a few for her. As they continued their journey through the cold, wet snow Harley asked about the environment and how it was living on a winter island.

Overall, she noted as she briefly squinted up at the shiny blue-white sky, it sounded kind of similar to Alabasta—aside from, of course, the different climates. But on either island, the weather was in charge, no matter what monarchs did or didn't exist. It was most of the reason the majority of Alabasta seemed to be deciding to rebel. No one could fight the weather for refusing to rain; it was easier to blame the Nefertaris than admit there was nothing anyone could do. Nothing legal, anyway.

The pair had lapsed into quiet by the time low red brick buildings with green turrets came into view, partially because the wind had started to pick up again. Harley thought she saw forms through the snowy air, standing together by one of the buildings, and as they drew nearer she realized it was Vivi, Usopp, and the man in green. Dalton. "Thanks for walking me up here," Harley said to the seamstress, and the seamstress gave her a nod before continuing on her own way.

Harley jogged to reach Dalton, Vivi, and Usopp. Dalton was enormous even seated—broad and muscular, with a square jaw. He flicked a glance up at Harley as both Vivi and Usopp greeted her. "You must be Toscano Harley."

"Yep," Harley confirmed again. She looked at Vivi and Usopp, on her right. "What's going on with Nami? Where is everyone else?"

"Luffy and Sanji took her up the mountain," provided Vivi.

Harley blinked. "Excuse me?"

Usopp gave her a glance of deep understanding. "They're carrying her up that mountain." He pointed to one of the massive cylindrical plateaus ahead, and Harley's eyes widened. With the biting wind and how unbelievably sheer each side of that plateau appeared to be—how in the hell could they possibly make it?

And hang on a second— "Why are they even going up there?" Harley demanded.

"The only doctor around lives in a castle at the top," said Vivi.

"That—" said Harley, but she didn't even know where to start. As a result she just sighed, her breath barely white in the air before it was flurried away.

A shape materialized from the wind and snowflakes. A woman who must have been at least ten feet tall came into view, smiling at them. "Hello, Dalton!" she called with a wave. "I was looking for you!"

Usopp gave a quick bow in the corner of Harley's eye as the woman stopped. "What can I do for you?" Dalton asked politely, raising his voice a little to be heard.

"I heard the newcomers were looking for Dr. Kureha," said the woman. Dalton clambered to his feet and Harley instinctively took a small step closer to Vivi.

"Yes," said Dalton, who it seemed hadn't noticed. "But the sick woman's friends have already taken her up the mountain."

"Oh, that's too bad!" said the woman. Harley furrowed her eyebrows. "Because I heard the doctor's in Cocoa Weed right now!"

Harley looked from the woman to Vivi and Usopp to Dalton. All three of them had gone quiet and were staring blankly at the woman—until Vivi and Usopp chorused, abruptly enough to make both Harley and the woman jump, "She's where?!"

"Cocoa Weed," repeated the woman with a hint of alarm. She gestured vaguely with a mittened hand. "It's a village that way."

Harley glanced at the two beside her. "Wait!" Vivi realized aloud with audible panic. "Does that mean—?"

"Nami and the others already passed her?!" shrieked Usopp.

"I—suppose so," said the woman.

"Thank you for this information, Geraldine," Dalton said to the woman. He turned toward Harley, Vivi, and Usopp. "I have a sled we can drive to Cocoa Weed. We'll see if we can catch up with the doctor and ask her to go after your friends."

It only took a couple of minutes for Dalton to hitch two big brown mountain goats with curved horns to a sled. He climbed in the front to take the reins while Vivi, Usopp, and Harley fit themselves into the back, and before Harley had even fully seated herself they were off. She more slammed into the wooden bench than sat down and grimaced.

The weather seemed even worse at a faster pace—the air thicker with snow and frigid, scraping against Harley's exposed cheeks and making her nose runnier. She'd pulled her knees up to wrap her arms around them in some attempt to conserve heat and had tried to focus on the passing snow-cloaked pines when Dalton called over his shoulder, "I'm sorry. This is my mistake. I was aware that the doctor had come to town from the mountain in the last few days, but I assumed that she had left, and wouldn't be back for quite some time."

Usopp had to stand and grip the back of the wooden seat before them to shout back, "Don't worry about it! This isn't your fault! The problem here is how abnormally strong Luffy and Sanji are! Even if we go up the mountain after them, there's no way we'd be able to catch up to them! If we're able to find the witch in this Cocoa Weed place, we just need to tell her to get back up the mountain as quickly as she possibly can!"

With that Usopp sat back down. Wait, is this a witch or a doctor? Is it a witch doctor? "You're right," said Vivi on his other side. "It's true. We have no other choice!"

Harley bit her lip. She hadn't been able to see too much of Luffy or Sanji's fighting styles or physical strength—only Zoro's—and it seemed to be putting quite an amount of faith in them to believe they'd gotten far. They were hefting an unconscious Nami through snowdrifts and what seemed to be a burgeoning blizzard, after all. Then again, Luffy does have that bounty—

"Forgive us," said Dalton, his voice a little lower but still audible through the rushing of the wind. "Forgive this land for not having more doctors."

Vivi leaned forward, bracing her mittened hands against her knees. "Don't say that!" she protested. "This isn't something that you need to be apologizing for, Dalton!"

"She's right about that!" added Usopp.

Harley glanced at them somewhat curiously, but she didn't bother to ask for clarification on any of it. Instead she buried her face in her knees, barely keeping her eyes above them. Dalton didn't speak for a minute and Harley could only hear slushing snow through the wind. When he did speak, all he said was, "Let's hurry!"

Yes, please, thought Harley somewhat plaintively. God, she missed the heat of Alabasta. Sand could be irritating, particularly in the eyes or shoes, but these thickening snowflakes were somehow significantly worse. It was cold and wet enough that she half-thought her eyelashes might be iced together if she blinked for too long.

A few minutes of rapid blinking passed before Usopp leaned forward to call ahead to Dalton again. "Dalton! You haven't told us who you are yet!" Dalton's head tilted, indicating he was listening. "It doesn't really seem like you're just an ordinary villager. You have a certain way of speaking that makes me think of a military officer."

There was a second of quiet, during which Harley tried to think. She hadn't heard Dalton speak enough to know whether or not Usopp was right. "You're correct," said Dalton, voice deep and somber. I guess that's military-ish? "I did serve this country. Under our former tyrant, Wapol."

Vivi and Usopp gasped and Harley almost choked on her spit. She swatted Usopp's arm, and he glanced toward her to nod—presumably in confirmation that Dalton was, indeed, referring to the talking garbage can that had taken a bite out of the Strawhats' ship the day before. What are the fucking chances?! Then again, Wapol had been in the same general area as the island—

Harley forced herself to pay attention, as Dalton was still speaking. "—Wapol's father ruled here," she caught. "However," he continued, "the time came when the king died, and his rule was then handed down to his son, Wapol. When that happened, this country changed."

Dalton explained that Wapol had exiled every doctor from the country, except for twenty he kept in his castle. Harley automatically glanced at Vivi. Her mittened hands were balled into fists on her knees, her face flushed with both the cold and anger. Harley watched for a second with a hint of wariness. "Wow," said Usopp to Dalton. "So from then on, anyone who got sick had no choice but to throw themselves on Wapol's mercy and hope that the twenty MDs would treat them!"

"Yes," said Dalton darkly. "And pay the excessive medical fees."

Vivi snapped. "So basically Wapol was ruling the country by taking the citizens' lives and health hostage?! That's not ruling! What sort of king would do that?!" She managed to rein it in and huffed to herself, turning to glare at the passing snowdrifts. "It's tyranny."

Harley silently agreed. Well, she had to think, at least Luffy shot Wapol into the sea somewhere. And even though Usopp and Vivi started talking in low voices, discussing Wapol and Drum Kingdom—which must have been this island—Harley pressed her cold face back into her knees. Please let this get over with quickly.