They made a brief stop by the marine base to deliver Don Krieg, much to everyone but Nami and Sanji's bewilderment.

"So. Any particular reason why pirates are so friendly with marines?" sweatdropped Usopp as men and women in blue and white uniforms cheerfully greeted them on the way.

"Oh, it's because they're not real marines," answered Nami with a shrug.

"What?"

"They're Revolutionaries."

"What!?"

A few agents eagerly took Krieg off their hands, determined to discover the secrets behind his weapons and their manufacturing, and the crew then docked the Merry nearer to the village, where they quickly brought Zoro so his wounds could get treated by a real doctor. Once he was all sewn-up, everyone gathered in the small room to discuss the situation – both in regard to the Revolutionaries' presence, as well as Cocoyashi's history with Arlong and his crew.

"So Cocoyashi isn't held hostage by the Fishmen anymore?" summarized Usopp, a bit pale. "You're absolutely certain they won't suddenly turn on us?"

"They're pirates," shrugged Brynlee. "I won't say they've never done any wrong before, but what they're doing today is making up for a lot of it. They're definitely helping a good cause now, at the very least."

"And there'd be nothing to be gained from turning on us," added Nami. "Arlong isn't one to act unless he gets something out of it, so no worries there."

"Also, he's got a soft spot for these two, even if he'll never admit it."

"Nojiko!"

Brynlee blanked out a bit as Nami rushed to the door to throw herself into the arms of a familiar blue-haired man standing a few feet away – yes, man. Tanned skin, lavender hair, a swirly heart tattoo on the collarbone…

Nojiko, for sure, but definitely not the one she'd known for over ten years.

"Guys, this is my older brother, Nojiko! Nojiko, these are my new friends and crew!"

As Nami introduced everyone, Brynlee stayed frozen in place, still trying to make sense of the situation. Why was Nami acting so normally? Why wasn't she freaking out? Her sister had become a man while they were gone, and she wasn't even questioning it? In fact, she already seemed to know, introducing Nojiko as her older brother, of all things…

"Brynlee? You alright?" called out Nojiko in a deep, unfamiliar voice.

"… did Emporio Ivankov drop by without warning?" she asked, genuinely lost.

"Who?"

"You're- you're a guy."

"Wow, only took you what, twelve years to notice?" deadpanned Nojiko.

"Is the heat getting to you?" asked Nami, a bit worried.

"… I feel a bit dizzy."

She had a terrible headache, now, and the world around her had started blurring. The moment the words stumbled out of her mouth, she felt all strength drain from her body and she collapsed, Sanji barely managing to catch her before she could hit the ground.

"Brynlee!"

"She's got a fever!"

"Quick, take her to the other room…!"

The voices became echoes, growing more distant with each passing second until, eventually, silence and darkness completely overcame her.

"You know, I was planning on being angry with you for fooling me, but I can't exactly be mad at a bedridden person – Koala would have my head if she heard I gave you a hard time while you were sick."

As expected, Sabo hadn't been all-too-happy upon finding out that the vacation he specifically managed to weasel out of Brynlee had been in vain, since he'd missed Luffy's departure by a few days – and he'd been even more annoyed upon realizing that if he'd just gone to Shells Town himself, he'd have run into him long beforehand, and that Brynlee knew that and still didn't tell him just for shits and giggles.

Thankfully, his worry seemed to have mellowed out his temper. After all, Brynlee collapsing out of nowhere definitely was something to worry about.

Brynlee let out a small laugh, pushing herself to sit. "Eh, it'll teach you to try and skirt your duties. What happened, anyway?"

"No one knows, really. One moment you were fine, the next you started acting delusional, and then you fainted. You had a small fever, too, but it seems to be gone, now. You were out for about three hours."

"Delusional…?"

Memories slowly came into focus – Nojiko. She remembered being shocked because Nojiko had suddenly become… a guy? Rationally, she knew it didn't make sense. The original story presented Nojiko as a girl, after all. But the more she thought about it, the more she felt like… she was wrong? Fishing in her memories of the past decade or so, she always remembered Nojiko as a boy, so what she knew from acquired knowledge and what she knew from acquired experience didn't match.

Well, it certainly explains the headache… Is this one of the bugs I was warned about? I already knew system errors had been occurring all over, but it seems this world as a whole, including the past, isn't exactly stable. So, impromptu changes might occur, but they still need to be "integrated" in the storyline, hence why no one else is questioning it… Everyone's memories were probably modified to adapt to the change but since I possess knowledge of the original storyline, it messed with my head… Or at least, that's the theory.

If she was right, then the notion was admittedly terrifying. A system error was one thing – the wrong gender, the wrong hair color, the wrong hobbies even – but ultimately, they only affected the ongoing storyline, the present. But proper bugs like this one, bugs that could somehow affect what had already come to pass?

Nothing is safe. Even if things happen a certain way on a certain day, there is absolutely no guarantee that I won't wake up the next day to find things have changed into something entirely different. How much can these bugs affect? On what kind of time period? Could we just wake up on the Grand Line one day missing a crewmate, because a bug occurred and made it so they weren't recruited!?

"Bryn, are you sure you're alright? You look pale, still," asked worriedly Sabo.

"Y- yeah, sorry for worrying you. I must have caught something, is all."

Sabo's frown only deepened. "Bryn, you've never gotten sick."

"Well, first time for everything, right? But I was probably just exhausted. You know how much hiding my wings tires me out."

"… alright, I won't insist any further. Just get some rest, okay?"

"Will do."

Somehow, she doubted any kind of rest could ease this newfound anxiety. Sure, she enjoyed random happenstances and chaos and things going completely off the rails, but this was taking things to a whole other level. She was always perfectly aware of the consequences any sort of decision could bring but, now, the scope of those consequences had just gotten imeasurably wider.

With this... With this, there was no control whatsoever. Her fate and that of her friends laid in a faulty reincarnation system, and there was absolutely nothing she could do for it.

And yet, despite the worry, despite the anxiety… there was still a small, crazy part of her brain that found some excitement in it, and she groaned upon realizing it.

I really am messed up…

Whew! I finally managed to introduce the last "type" of bug! What do you think of it? xD

Also, apologies for the slight delay in publishing this chapter. I'll try and post the next one in the next few days.

Later!