It took a long time, much longer than I anticipated, but it's finally here! This part... was not easy. Forget the patchwork of a timeline that doesn't make sense when you actually think about it, the action I was looking forward to writing was... well, you'll see when we arrive at it. For now, I hope you'll be able to enjoy this next installment.

Part 7: Human or Reindeer?

Chapter 1/5: Tony Tony Chopper

It took them hours. Hours! To defeat a pack of lapins! When at last the fluffy beasts no longer stirred, Wapol finally let out a wild, boisterous laugh.

"You brainless creatures! As if a bunch of puny rabbits could ever hope to defy the king!"

Kuromarimo was almost speechless himself. Of course he'd known lapins should not be crossed under any circumstances, everyone born on this island grew up knowing to keep their distance from these beasts. Going up against them for the first time in his life, and worse, having to fight because the lapins seemed determined to hunt them down, made him fear them all over again.

But he was still the king's minister. "Never thought we'd have to use our real strength against some bunnies," he said, trying for huffy rather than breathless.

"Couldn't be helped, I guess. They are the most ferocious beasts in Drum Kingdom," Chess lamented ruefully, despite looking rather shaken himself. There wasn't a single arrow sticking out of the beasts. They had been too swift and too cunning to give him time to aim properly, and they knew to guard their weak spots.

Wapol shook out his clothes, kicked the lastly fallen lapin, the one with the ugly scar over one eye, a few more times for good measure, then started striding towards Robson, who had wisely stayed hidden during the fight. Stepping up onto the white walkie's saddle, Wapol turned to face his castle.

"JUST YOU WAIT, STRAWHAT! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!"

Kureha took another sip from the bottle of rum beside her and inspected her work. The ink had been almost unrecognizable under the scar tissue, but not enough for her not to realize what they were. And if she recognized them, there was a chance someone with less good intentions would too. She wasn't in the habit of doing favours, especially not for free, but this was a special case. Hopefully the last one she ever had to do. Hilruk had forced her hand in the past and she was still stuck with his stupid problem.

Fastening a compress over the bleeding shoulder the doctor rolled her patient onto their back, placed one of her own, old shirts beside the bed and went to check on the other two.

Nami was dreaming again. She knew because her body was made of something heavy and she couldn't move her feet and there was a troll running around under her bed. She could hear its footsteps, but couldn't turn her head to look for it. At some point she had thought that it was odd how much she was dreaming, and that they so often featured hissing cats and a groaning tree that had Gen-san's face.

But now and again she knew she hadn't been dreaming. She knew Ruffy had pulled her up at some point. She remembered Ruffy saying they needed to go to a doctor on top a mountain. Nami knew that hadn't been a dream because she could feel Ruffy. Her captain was right there, and Nami knew Ruffy would save her. Who else but Ruffy could possibly be so recklessly effortless with her love?

But then what? Nami only knew that she had dreamt. Her feet had been in cold waters as she was riding a ballon-buffalo. A typhoon full of ice-cream and frosting had roared past her. Gaimon's island had flown by and he had waved at her, seated beside a polar bear gorilla. She might have woken up for a second after that out of sheer astonishment at her own ability to think up such a crazy stupid creature.

Her body felt sluggish and her head was full of cotton, but Nami suddenly knew she was awake. But the troll was still there. She could hear its footsteps, a light but strangely sharp tapping against stone with a short stride. Confused, Nami started moving. A bag of ice was hanging over her, pressing nice and cool against her forehead. She pushed it away and sat up.

"Who's there?"

The troll… (teddy bear?) startled and jumped away. It stood frozen for a few seconds before it ran to a doorway and hid one eye.

Nami stared at the curious sight. The creature was a soft tan in colour, had hoofs (which explained the sound of its steps), was rather round with a big head adorned with a large, pink hat that had ears and horns protruding out of it. But what was it doing? It was like it was hiding but had misunderstood the concept.

"You're supposed do it the opposite way if you want to hide and peek," she explained slowly.

The creature startled, then did as she suggested, looking perplexed under the wariness.

"I've already seen you though."

"Q-quiet, human!" It barked, then added "Has the fever gone down?" in a meek tone.

"It talks!?" Nami exclaimed.

The teddy troll reacted like Nami had leaped from the bed and pounced it. It fled wildly into the other room, knocking into everything and making an all-around ruckus.

"Quiet down, Chopper!"

Nami felt her chin go slack at the appearance of a slim, elderly woman dressed in purple pants with pink stipes going up one leg, a ring in her bellybutton and a tight-fitting crop-tee in light colours. Long waves of platina blonde hair cascaded down the woman's back and round sunglasses rested on a hawk-nose. She giggled in a manner that Nami wasn't entirely sure was amusement.

"Seems the fever's gone down. How're ya feeling, little girl? Ya happy?"

"Who are you?" was the only thing Nami could think of.

The woman took another swig from the bottle of rum in her hand and reached out to touch a finger to Nami's forehead. "39,2 degrees Celsius. Hm, oh well. I'm a doctor." The woman pulled up her glasses to reveal a pair of pale, clear eyes. "Doctor Kureha. You may call me Doctorine."

"Doctor?" Nami's last coherent memory was of Ruffy saying she'd take Nami to a doctor on top of a mountain. And she was fairly sure Sanji had come along. But there was only her in the room. It felt… startingly lonely. Ever since she fell sick she'd woken up to find her crewmates sleeping in the room or watching over her. If she'd been at full health Nami would have been angry at herself for feeling so awfully happy and satisfied that her friends cared so much about her.

"The secret to my youth?" the doctor said out of the blue.

"I didn't ask that…" Nami shook her head and looked around the room again. "Is this…"

"The castle on top of the highest mountain," the doctor confirmed, causing Nami's heart to jump.

"Wasn't there… two others with me?"

"Those two?" the doctor took another swig of rum. "Snoring away in the next room. Made of real tough stuff, those kids."

So Ruffy and Sanji were both okay. Just resting. Of course, even they would be tired after scaling a mountain.

The doctor sat at the edge of Nami's bed and, unexpectedly, lifted her shirt. "There. That's the culprit."

Startled, Nami looked down to see a nasty purple and yellow bruise on the side of her stomach. "What's… where'd I get that?"

"You've been stung by a Kestia. An insect that lives in tropical forests. The bite will spread bacteria into the wound. For five days the host will suffer over forty-one degrees of fever, inflammation of the heart, arteries and brain. From the wound I gather you've been affected for three days. Can't have been easy on you, but it would only have lasted another two days anyways."

The doctor had this naturally calm, matter-of-fact manner of speech. The information was clear and easy to follow. But it was her face that caught Nami's attention. Only her mouth was smiling.

The doctor lifted her eyes from the wound and dropped the shirt. "Just another two days, and you'd have been dead."

Nami's first thought was, unbelievingly, Ruffy's face. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that if she had died, Ruffy would…

She hugged herself as the chill passed through her. She was alive. She wouldn't become like Bellemere. Ruffy didn't have to cry out in despair and suffer over her.

"It used to be known as the five-day-fever," the doctor, unaware of Nami's inner thoughts, continued in the same style as before and stood. "Though Kestia has supposedly been extinct for millennia. You're lucky I know how to make an antibiotic. What have you even been doing? Walking topless though a prehistoric jungle?" The doctor laughed at her own joke, but Nami had a sudden recollection.

"Oh that."

The old woman lowered the bottle and turned back towards Nami with an incredulous expression. "You're a really dumb chick," she stated, then gave Nami a surprisingly solid push so that she fell back onto the pillow. "Go back to sleep. You're still healing."

"Thank you for your help," Nami started. Her thoughts were clearer than they'd been for days and she had this feeling she was in a hurry, but it took her a second to remember why.

'Right, one billion beli!'

"As soon as the fever goes down, I'm good to go, right?"

But the doctor's smirk grew colder. "Naïve girl. You were at death's door, it would normally mean at least ten days at a hospital. If you want to suffer death that badly it's your business, but even with my medicine you still need three days of recovery."

"Three days!" Nami gasped and shot up. "We can't stay still that long! We…!"

The glint of a blade and the old woman's sudden movements had Nami gasping and falling back once again. The doctor stood over her with a scalpel pressed to Nami's jugular.

"There are two ways for patients to leave my clinic," said the lady, the same calm voice as before paired with the same cold smile and an even colder giggle. "Cured. Or dead."

Just then there was another blast of commotion in the other room.

Dalton was swimming somewhere dark. His body hurt, but it was nothing compared to the claws of fear and rage that tore at his soul. Wapol. The doted upon crown prince who had become a tyrant once coronated, worse than any monster in the world, was laughing above him.

Kuromarimo was a sadist, always hoping for the king's displays of cruelty with each and every report. Chess was a complacent minister who hated to think of anything but his own interests. How often hadn't he told Dalton to stop thinking and just serve his king, that he would be happier if he did.

The physical pain sharpened, making Dalton involuntarily gasp and open his eyes. The dark he'd been swimming in tried to veil his sight, pull him under again. The old soldier resisted and tried to get up.

"Dalton-kun. Please calm. You're severely wounded."

Dalton blinked and blinked, trying to force the blurry colours before him into shapes with solid form. A bright light was turned away. A lamp? The colours became more focused with each blink of his eyes.

"Isshi…20?"

The person above him pulled his mask down and removed his glasses. "Dalton-kun, please listen to me, you can't get up."

"Doctor Hamada?" Dalton was surprised. This man had been the court physician during the old king's rule and the one who had taught Dalton most of what he knew about his devil fruit power. Eating a zoan fruit was not without setbacks, regardless of popular opinion.

The distraction didn't last long however. Dalton pushed the blanket away and got up despite the rain of protests. It looked like the entirety of Isshi-20 was here with him. That meant Wapol couldn't be far away.

"WAPOL!" he bellowed in a way that even to his own ears sounded like it came from a bull.

"He left, Dalton-kun," another doctor spoke. "He went to the castle."

The news set Dalton off in a rage. "We have to raise!" he roared. "I'll settle the score whatever the cost! I don't care if I die, I'll chase Wapol out of the country with my bare hands!"

"I'll take you there."

Dalton looked down. Before him he found the back of a youngster, the pirate that had arrived this morning, posed to pick Dalton up on his back.

"I'll take you to the castle, so get on," the boy repeated.

It was a strange sight. The boy was much smaller than Dalton, and yet. Yet he felt himself kneel under his own pain and drape over that boy.

He struggled. Of course he did, Dalton was more than twice his size. Still. Even in his rage, through the pain, he felt relief. Someone finally understood!

When was the last time anyone had offered to become his support? The citizens weren't soldiers, regardless how much Dalton trained and prepared them. It had been made clear today. They weren't ready to risk their lives, none of them were.

Dalton was almost unconscious again when the voices around him changed their tone. Something about Gyasta and a white rope.

The darkness enclosed him again.

Chopper was trying to calm his heart. It wasn't like he'd never been around humans, just… no matter how many years passed, the adrenaline spiked every time he saw one. Even when they were unconscious he couldn't trust them. Like the people who'd climbed the mountain today. Chopper hadn't been able to relax since they'd been brought in. It had only been an hour and a half.

Entering the room where the other two patients were placed, Chopper glanced first at the male. He lay on his back to keep his spine straight after the surgery. It was a new injury and he was young, so the damage would heal without lasting means as long as he stayed calm for the next month.

Then Chopper was nailed to the floor by a pair of wild gold eyes.

Hunter.

Chopper knew, his every instinct screamed at him that the girl on the bed was an apex predator, and he was very much prey. But there was one part of his brain, the one that had felt disconnected from the rest of him since the dire day he ate his devil fruit. That part was taking in the girl in her entirety.

She sat there, huddled into the corner the bed was pushed into, holding herself, head tilted up with her pupils locked on him with a blank, glassy stare.

Not hunter. Cornered.

Which was either as bad or worse.

"You saw?"

The words were barely a breath, hardly even a sound at all. And then…

"Venison… cooked tender."

The words came from behind him. Chopper's pulse almost stopped and his mind disappeared into a state of absolute panic as the golden eyes charged from one direction and whatever kind of hunter the other person was jumped him.

Kureha lifted her gaze to see Chopper come charging in from the other room, pulling the other two patients behind him and screeching like a dying pig.

"What is that little… talking teddy reindeer? What kind of creature…?"

Kureha would have answered but the girl with her fingers buried in Chopper's fur let up and jumped back, covered only by the bandages around her body and a hand that sprung up to her shoulder.

She looked exactly like Kureha had feared and it caused an irritated snarl to cross her features before she could school her expression.

"Nami-san!" called the boy who'd gotten his spine twisted out of position, up and running before the damage had had any time to even start to heal. "Look, I caught a baby deer! I'll cook him up real fast and…!"

"I AM NOT YOUR FOOD!"

Kureha didn't even bat an eye as Chopper grew and beat the boy into the ground before fleeing the room.

The other girl stood perfectly still when Kureha turned back to her.

"I… you… my…" she stammered.

"What? That big, ugly burn on your back? Yes, what's up with that? Were you struck by lightning or something?"

The girl blinked hard. "Ah."

'…are kids of today trying to die young?' the healer thought darkly, hugely insulted.

The mountain-scaler stared at Kureha with eyes that slowly darkened from gold to brown with every blink.

"Burn?" she repeated and twisted her head to look behind her.

"Oh, from that lightning strike? Is it bad?" asked the spine-boy.

"No worse than the frost-bite," Kureha sighed.

The girl with the straw-hat was looking at Kureha with a strange intensity. Her shoulders slowly lowered. Kureha pretended not to see her, or the slow blink she offered, by taking another swig. "I left a shirt for you by your bed," she offered instead.

"Oh!" She disappeared, back first, into the other sickroom and came right back, dressed in the light blue tee with a white X on the chest. "Nami! You're up! Are you healthy again?"

The expression on the light-haired patient's face was one Kureha rarely got the chance to see. Helpless love.

"I'm sorry I scared you, captain."

"Captain, huh?" Kureha couldn't help the words slipping out. "You guys are pirates?"

"We're pirates. Thank you granny, for healing Nami."

"…Your name was…?"

"Ruffy!"

Kureha landed a solid roundhouse kick on the girl's head. "WATCH YOUR MOUTH! I'm not old yet! I have yet not reached a hundred and forty!" And once she did she'd still be young!

Spine-boy had also gotten up and caught his captain. "Oi, granny! What's your shitty deal!"

Kureha served him his just deserts as well.

"That little… creature?"

Kureha snorted as she sat down. The girl on the bed was real curious about her pet it seemed. "He's just a normal reindeer with a blue nose," she shrugged.

"Reindeer? But it… he, was talking. And just now…"

"Oh that. Nothing unusual. He just ate a devil fruit like your captain. The human fruit. He's my apprentice and assistant."

The Ruffy girl got up with a groan, rubbing her ear with a strange expression. Kureha knew she wasn't experiencing ringing, the bones that transported sounds in that one ear had been dead too long to be saved, but she still looked like something was different.

Then she caught sight of Chopper sneaking around in the doorway, along with her comrade. The reindeer fled with the two pirates hot on his heels.

"Hold it, meatballs!"

"Ruffy, you can't eat it yet! I need to… Nami-san! Just wait, I'll cook up a refreshing steak!"

"Not unless I eat you first, you rascals!" Kureha roared as she ran after them, because they should be bedridden for at least one more day.

"The granny!"

"With knives!" Ruffy observed in a startled pitch as she dodged the first blade coming for her.

Nami was left in the room, lost in a feeling of exasperation and joy. This crew was the same chaos even with only Sanji and Ruffy. The same uncomplicated mess. How could Nami, who had spent so many years of her childhood and teenage years alone under a mountain of stress, trying to calculate every move of those around her, not love them?

Then she suddenly shivered. The room was warm, the fire crackling happily in the hearth, but through the door Nami was shocked to see snow.

"Why is it snowing inside?" Had she been in at full health, she would definitely have asked more questions. Now she just shuddered in the cold draft and lifted the comforter to go close the door.

"Stay in bed!" The reindeer was back, breathing slightly laboured and looking around warily. "You're still recovering and have a fever."

Nami touched her forehead. Besides a lingering headache and fatigue, she felt okay, and she wasn't too hot to the touch either. "I think the fever's gone down."

"Still no. Doctorine's medicines are effective against fever, but the bacteria is still in your system." the reindeer said as he checked the snowy corridor outside carefully before closing the door. "You need another dose of medicine and to stay in bed."

Nami felt how she smiled. "Thank you."

The little critter started and looked at Nami with alarm. She smiled wider.

"You're the one who took care of me, right? Thank you."

The animal's entire face twitched as his mouth opened and closed, before he suddenly cried out. "S-shut up! Don't think I'll be happy about your praise! How dare you! Baka!"

Nami almost snorted. The little guy was dancing on the spot with the absolutely goofiest smile Nami had ever seen.

Then the deer suddenly seemed to think of something. "Are… are you, and them too, really pirates?"

Nami blinked. Then blinked again with a slight shake of her head. She really wasn't fit yet. The fatigue was crawling up on her and the headache was coming back. But she wasn't so tired she couldn't see a chance when it presented itself to her. Because rather than terrified, there was something else in those doe eyes.

"We are pirates," she confirmed and watched the reaction. The talking animal crept closer.

"Real ones?"

'Are there un-real pirates?' Nami thought, and promptly shoved away the image of Usopp and the soup boys appearing for her mind's eye before she could burst out in a laugh. "Yes."

A hoof cautiously reached out and very lightly tapped Nami's fingers before flinching away. "You have a black flag? With a skull and crossed bones?"

"On our ship," Nami answered truthfully, trying to not smile as she ventured on her mission. "Are you interested in pirates?"

Contrary to her belief, the little guy jumped back and vehemently shouted his denial. It worsened Nami's headache, but she wasn't about to give up.

"Would you like to come with us?"

The answer was a hanging jaw and a face of disbelief.

"To the sea," Nami pressed on. "Would you like that? It would be great for us! We don't have a doctor, and with you on the crew I don't have to stay here for three days and…"

"IDIOT! I'm a reindeer! I can't travel with humans!"

Nami's voice died out, because she'd caught an expression she had seen too many times in a mirror since she was nine years old. The two looked at each other without speaking for a long minute.

"You… aren't you afraid of me? I walk on two legs and talk despite being a reindeer."

Nami so dearly wanted to tell how this little critter was the LEAST scary creature she'd met in her life. He wasn't even the weirdest. A bit unique, perhaps. For what are the odds of a devil fruit that gave someone the qualities of a human? It was certainly the most useless power to have if the consumer was already a human. But Nami could, at least theoretically, understand what it might be like for an animal to suddenly be human, if that's what the fruit did. Reindeers lived in hoards, but this one lived here, apparently alone with only the old woman.

"Do you want me to be afraid?" she asked mildly.

The other sagged and pouted, just a little, as he said with a soft voice, "I have a blue nose."

'Must be a sore subject,' Nami thought absentmindedly.

Just then Ruffy and Sanji burst through the door in the other room and spotted him.

"Reindeer ahead!" Ruffy declared.

"Steak!" Sanji called.

Nami could just sigh as the three of them fell over each other, the reindeer to flee and her captain and her cook to catch him. Once again they disappeared in a noisy tumble, leaving the door open to allow Nami a view of the snow-covered hallway outside. Until the doctor entered and closed the door after her. She was out of breath, but looked oddly refreshed.

"Those are some nimble little brats," she sighed as she slipped into a chair. "But that didn't look good, girlie. Trying to seduce my reindeer while I'm gone?"

Nami had grown up to be a thief, and it was about much more than dexterity. She couldn't help but smile a little. "Do I need your permission to flirt with a boy?"

Just as she'd guessed, the doctor wasn't actually upset about it. She giggled happily. "Not at all, go ahead and take him!" Then she sighed, her pale eyes growing distant while the smile softened on her face. "It's just not going to be so easy. He's wounded in his heart, and there is no medicine in the world that can even start to heal it."

"A wounded heart… huh?" Nami's gaze drifted over to the door. She had almost forgotten, but it was always there at the back of her mind. The memory of Ruffy with long hair, a ring around her neck with a backdrop of a sea of blood. The sight of her standing alone under the staircase at Baratie where nobody could approach her.

Nami had never had words for it, but Ruffy was also wounded in the heart. Very, irreversibly wounded. And yet she had barely blinked when Nami had tried to betray her, had taken on Arlong without a glimmer of hesitation.

"His parents abandoned him after birth, because of his blue nose."

'So that was it,' Nami thought, even as she found it horrible. She'd heard of parents who left their newborns out to die because they were misshapen, but also the other side of the story about those children living, and then dying from the torment of others. Cruelty against the ones who were different was apparently the same in the animal world.

The thief listened attentively as the doctor gave her a short, matter-of-fact retelling of the reindeer's life. How he'd been shunned by the herd, chased away after eating the devil fruit, tried to seek out humans hoping they were kinder, only to be treated like a monster.

"He's lived like that all his life. Not a reindeer and not a human. Unable to hate or be angry at anyone. So? Do you think you can heal his heart?"

"…I can't," Nami said honestly, smiling as the memory of a broken desk and eight years of mapping out East Blue taking flight flickered through her mind. "But that's what my captain does best."