It had already been a few hours since leaving Little Garden, and Nami was already starting to run a fever from the bug bite. Luffy ordered her to stay in the cabin and rest, giving Double-D the temporary role of Navigator until they get Nami treatment.
"Alright, the closest island to our current position is Drum Island. We should be able to reach it soon." Double-D said as he looked at the Eternal Pose.
Meanwhile, Draco, Ben, Zoro, and Kuina were leading the rest of the crew in heavy training to make up for not being able to while on Little Garden.
"This is torture..." Calvin groaned out.
"Please...Kill me...!" Eddy wheezed.
"Feel the burn!" Ed said, having the time of his life.
"Holy crap..." Mikita/Miss Valentine said as she watched the training. "These guys are monsters. No wonder they beat us."
Sanji, Noire, and Carmen were rushing back and forth helping Nami keep her strength up with large helpings of food and clean water. Kaya was doing her best with the medical knowledge that she had to make sure Nami was comfortable.
Fuu had been trying to come up with a medicine to help Nami, but her fever and syntoms where rising too quickly.
"What good is this power if I can't….?!" She started, only for Mifune to gently push her outside.
"Get some rest." He gently ordered. "I'll keep watch and let you know if anything happens"
Fuu stifled a yawn and moved forward, but Luffy caught her and gently but firmly ordered:
"Fuu. Rest. You need it too."
Fuu sighed, if Luffy ordered her…
"Seconded." Bamia said/
"Thirded." Dracon followed.
"Fourth…ed." Ben finished. "…that's not even a word…"
..Well, all four Captains demanded…
"Fuu." Nojiko added, pointing to her cabin but then smiling. "Thanks."
Sighikng, Fuu did just that.
Luckily despite her illness, Nami was still able to innately predict the weather, helping the crew avoid a sea cyclone on the way to Drum Island.
-OP-
As snow started to settle in, Usopp noticed something odd.
"Hey, Draco, are there people on the Grand Line who can stand on water?"
That question made the son of Whitebeard pause and reflect for a moment.
"Uh...No…No I don't think so…Not to my knowledge."
"Something like that sounds weird even for this place," Ruby agreed.
"Well, that's exactly what I'm seeing right now."
Sure enough, there was a man dressed in a green jester jumpsuit and fur coat and armed with a bow and arrow, seemingly standing on the open ocean.
"Now there's something you don't see every day!" Heart noted.
"That's exactly why I quit my summer job at the petting zoo." Mifune shrugged.
"Hello there. It's chilly today, isn't it?" The man greeted.
"Hey, how are you standing on the ocean?" Luffy asked.
"I'm not. I'm standing on my crew's ship."
The Straw Hats got confused until something started to surface under the man. It turned out to be a large round ship, with the man standing on the mast.
"Hey, watch it! We've got a sick crew member on board!" Sonson snapped.
Metal plates on the ship lowered and a large hippo figurehead with a crown was raised. A Jolly Roger with the skull wearing a crown was revealed.
"It's an enemy pirate ship!" Rosa gasped.
"Holy crap, I think that's the Bliking Pirates." Marianne/Miss Goldenweek said.
A large robust man with a metal jaw laughed as he came onto the deck of the ship, carrying a large meat haunch on a sword.
"Sorry if my ship, the Bliking, startled you."
The Straw Hats suddenly found themselves surrounded by pirates with guns.
"Hey, cut it out, there are children on board!" Ben said as he pulled Calvin and Marianne close.
"I'M SIXTEEN!"
Luffy looked nonchalant. You guys have five minutes to clear off our ship before we kick you off."
"You seem pretty strange for pirates. Quite a large crew for such a small ship." The large man regarded the crew.
"You'd be surprised how roomy it is on the inside." Gottfried quipped.
The large man simply finished eating his meat, while also chomping down on the sword with it.
"Still seems pretty small for a pirate crew."
"I'm guessing you have a Devil Fruit. Otherwise, you wouldn't be eating a sword like it was a candy cane." Bamia noted.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. My name is Wapol, and the Devil Fruit I ate is called the Munch-Munch Fruit, which lets me eat anything."
"Huh." Rosa mused. "My Absorb-Absorb Fruit can do that too!"
Wapol rose an eyebrow, shocked and slightly intrigued.
"Huh….Well, what do you know. I thought…"
"Oh there is only one of each devil fruit, lad." Ben said. "But a few have similar powers."
Wapol let out a nod of understanding…before remembering who he was: WHY WAS HE BEING SO CORDIAL WITH THESE INGRATES?!
"Regardless, we're on our way to Drum Kingdom. Do you happen to have an Eternal Pose or Log Pose? If not, I'll just take your treasure and this ship."
"You'll take nothing and return to your ship immediately," Draco warned. "Trust me, none of your men or even you are a match for us.
"And right now we're in a hurry, so we don't have time to play nice. You still have two minutes to vacate." Bamia added.
Wapol laughed. "Trust me, I'm not the sort of person you want to say 'no' to. Men, start cleaning them out. I'm feeling a bit hungry."
He made ready to chomp down on the Merry, only for his teeth to find Sonson's Ruyi Jingu Bang holding them open.
"We weren't asking ya, we were telling ya!"
"HERE COMES THE PAIN!" Hilda shouted as she picked up a barrel. "MORE-MORE BARREL ROLL!"
Throwing the barrel and making it grow several times its size, Hilda bowled over several of the pirates right into the sea.
The rest of the pirates could barely react as they were decimated by the Straw Hats; Usopp and Nojiko shot their guns right out of their hands, Zoro and Kuina slashed them multiple times, and several had bruises from Sanji and Ruby's kicks.
"MIST FREEZE!" Bamia shouted, forming a large veil of mist over the ship that caused time to slow to a crawl as she moved around and began striking down the pirates with pressurized strikes.
Gottfried discombobulated several pirates with vibrating sound waves, followed by Carmen washing them overboard. Ed used one hapless pirate as a makeshift club to send some of his mates flying while Eddy stole whatever valuables they had. What none of the Straw Hats seemed to see except for Calvin was Hobbes mauling several pirates with his claws and teeth.
"What kind of ship did I wind up on...?," Wapol asked in stunned surprise.
"It's time for you to get off my ship!" Luffy shouted as she charged forward. "GUM-GUM BAZOOKA!"
She stretched her arms back and let them snap forward to send Wapol flying, much to the shock of his crew, who quickly chased after him on the Bliking.
"Well, that was nuts," Mikita said.
"If that Wapol guy is lucky he'll land on something solid, otherwise he's dead once he hits the water." Gem/Mr. 5 noted.
Vivi hummed. "Have I seen that man somewhere before?"
Carue shrugged. "Not that I remember. But he seemed like kind of a moron, so let's not worry about it."
-OP-
Meanwhile, Smoker and Tashigi had been reassigned to the Grand Line after Marine HQ intercepted a Transponder Snail signal.
"Sergeant Major, you've been out of it for some time. You okay?"
Tashigi has recently been informed that the duo she had met at the sword shop were actually Roronoa Zoro and Shimotsuki Kuina. Needless to say, she was having a crisis, since they had given her excellent life advice. She was slightly mollified by finding a Ryo-Wazamono sword named Kashu.
Smoker shook his head. "Just get over here. Our Black Transponder Snail just picked up a transmission between two men."
The message was the same one between Mr. 3 and Crocodile from Little Garden.
"We got just enough to determine they have designs on Alabasta, but most of it was indecipherable."
"Judging from what we could get, it seems this was from Baroque Works." Smoker noted.
He looked over to a man in a top hat they had captured who answered to the name Mr. 11. They had managed to confirm he was part of Baroque Works, but couldn't get him to talk about anything else.
"It seems like the Straw Hats are currently at war with Baroque Works. The recent TB was broadcast from Little Garden and had them fighting a man named Mr. 3 and a young woman named Miss Goldenweek." Tashigi noted.
"And it sounds like this group has its sights set on Alabasta. The Straw Hats are currently escorting Princess Vivi there, likely to stop the civil war currently raging." Smoker said. "Judging from the impression I got from their four captains, they're not the sort to take hostages or demand ransoms."
"I take it we're going to Alabasta as well?" Tashigi asked.
Smoker nodded. "Of course. Contact HQ and request an Eternal Pose for Alabasta at once. It's high time something was done about Baroque Works."
-OP-
As the Merry continued to sail toward Drum Island, the climate started to turn colder and colder. Ruby and Axol started staying close to the heater to keep warm.
"Looks like we're almost there. The Grand Line has four types of islands. Summer, spring, autumn, and winter." Draco said. "Drum Island is a winter island, so this level of snow and cold means we're close to it."
"Man, the Grand Line has a lot of mysteries to it!" Usopp said.
"So much to discover!" Double-D smiled excitedly.
"But if the islands have such drastic climates on them it's no wonder the seas between them have such unstable weather," Kaya noted.
"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby cheered, waving his arms to get everyone's attention as they finally saw land.
The island ahead looked like it was made of ice and snow, large mountains of white jutting up from the ocean.
"Wow, there's so much snow!" Luffy said. "I've never even seen snow before!"
"It's a winter wonderland!" Ed cheered. "Let's make snow angels, guys!"
"I just hope the river doesn't freeze before we reach a town," Kuina said.
"You can just melt it." Zoro smirked.
Suddenly, several people appeared with guns pointing at the crew.
"Well, so much for a warm welcome..." Calvin grumbled.
"Stop right there, pirates! Leave this island at once!"
"We're not in a position to leave!" Luffy barked back "Our navigator is sick and we came here to find a doctor!"
"We won't fall for that trick, you filthy pirates!"
Ben rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, causing a swarm of bats to appear from his coat and drag the man who said that into the cabin to see Nami.
"Believe us now, mate?"
The first man, known as Dalton, came aboard to see for himself and bowed his head in apology.
"Apologies, we thought you were raiders trying to attack our village."
"It's not a good idea to jump to conclusions like that. You're not going to make friends that way." Bamia said.
Dalton nodded. "I suppose you're right. Follow me to the village."
"You were saying about a warm welcome?" Hobbes grinned at Calvin, who just scoffed.
-OP-
The heavy winter weather meant most of the crew had to bundle up. This was especially the case for Ruby, Axol, Carmen, and Gottfried. Luffy didn't need winter clothes because she could just accelerate her rubber heart to heat up her blood and stay warm, while Draco was naturally immune due to the various elements provided by the Disaster-Disaster Fruit.
"…Lucky bastard." More than a few grumbled.
The others were all bundled normally, with Nami carefully being carried to the village.
"Just to let you know, the only doctor in our village is a witch," Dalton warned.
"Well, that's not very kind of you," Double-D said with a frown. "I've read plenty of stories of innocent people being accused of such notions."
"No, she's just a pain to deal with and tends to overcharge for her services." Dalton clarified.
"Well, you should have opened with something like that." Noire shrugged.
"I knew there was a country here on the island. What do you call it?" Axol asked.
Dalton shook his head. "It doesn't have a name."
They passed by a large bear Dalton called a hiking bear, and he instructed them to bow to it to show good manners. Eventually, they reached the village of Big Horn, a thriving settlement. Most of the villagers that were with them headed off, surprising Vivi.
"I thought they were this land's security force."
"They're just ordinary citizens. More an emergency militia than anything else." Dalton clarified. "For now let's get out the cold. My home is this way."
"Hey there, Dalton. I heard there were pirates showing up. Are you okay?" A large woman asked as she came over.
"Everything's fine, Maria. Turns out these pirates aren't malicious raiders." Dalton said.
The Straw Hats noted that everyone seemed to respect Dalton and even see him as a leader figure, though he was dismissive of this, claiming to be a sinful man.
"Rolf senses a heavy burden on the man," Rolf noted. "He holds a great shame in his heart."
Making their way inside Dalton's home, Nami was carefully laid in the bed and bundled up.
"Forgive the heavy-handed introduction," Dalton said. "So what happened with your navigator?"
"She seems to have contracted an illness from the last island we visited," Vivi explained. "Her fever's gone up for three days in a row. It's at 42 degrees Celsius right now. All we know is that she seems to have caught it from a bug bite, but we don't know how to treat it."
Dalton frowned. "That's bad, if she's not treated soon, she'll die. Our village doctor is up in the Drum Rockies, the large mountains you can see out the window there. She resides in the castle you can just make out on the tallest one in the middle."
"She lives in a castle?" Usopp asked.
"That castle no longer has its king, instead it's the home of Doctor Kureha. People call her a witch, mostly because she's a hardass." Dalton explained.
"We can't go all the way up there!" Nojiko said. "Can't you call her down here?!"
"Easy, Nojiko..." Gin gently said.
"Unfortunately we have no means of contacting her, but I assure you, her skills as a doctor are peerless," Dalton said. "She's nearly 140 years old, likely due to her talents as a doctor coupled with a healthy lifestyle."
"So what do you do when someone in the village gets sick or injured?" Zoro asked.
"She comes down whenever something like that happens, somehow she can sense it. Or maybe she's just watching the village for fun." Dalton shrugged. "Who really knows? But she comes down, treats the patient, then takes whatever she wants from their house before leaving."
"No money? No payment? Just taking whatever she deems necessary to take?" Double-D asked. "Well, there is such a thing called bartering but still..."
"How does she go up and down the mountain?" Kaya asked. "It looks like a sheer vertical cliff face."
"I'm not sure, but some people have claimed to see her riding a sleigh through the sky on moonlit nights. Others have seen her with a strange creature they've never seen before." Dalton said.
"Well, we can't afford to wait for her to come to us. Not only does Nami's life depend on it, but there's somewhere we need to get to quickly." Luffy said.
Sonson nodded and formed her Nimbus, gently placing Nami on it before sitting cross-legged to pilot it in an easier way.
"I'll just be able to fly Nami up to the mountains from here!"
"If you really need to climb the mountain, I'd recommend going up the other side. This side of the mountain has Lapins." Dalton warned.
"The heck's a Lapin?" Eddy asked.
"Sounds like a-" Gottfried began before Hilda pinched his mouth shut.
"There are children present!"
"A Lapin is a giant carnivorous rabbit. Dangerous pack hunters, and a big problem for winter islands like this." Draco explained.
"Looks like Sonson will need backup," Bamia said. "I'm going with her, who's with us?"
"I am!" Luffy said firmly. "I won't let Nami suffer any longer than she has to!"
"I'm coming too," Nojiko said. "Nami's my little sister."
Zoro and Sanji nodded and agreed to come along. Also joining were Rosa, Rolf, Gin, Mifune, Fuu, Kuina, Heart, and surprisingly enough, Melony.
"Are you sure they'll be alright?" Dalton asked as the group left.
"I'm not worried about them," Usopp said.
"With Zoro, Kuina, and Mifune's combined swordsmanship, I say they have this handled." Hilda chuckled.
Dalton nodded. "You know, this town used to have a lot more doctors. This region was even known as an advanced medical nation. But then a few months ago, the country was destroyed. All at the hands of pirates."
"The whole country?!" Penny asked in shock.
"Yes, as such the word 'pirate' is still too much for everyone to handle. There were only ten people in that group of pirates. The captain called himself 'Blackbeard'."
That made one of the Straw hats tumble and nearly fall flat on his face.
"TEACH?!" Draco faltered in shock. "But...that's impossible! Why would Teach attack an entire country?!"
"You know him?" Dalton asked.
"He's a member of my father's fleet and was like an older brother to me." Draco clarified. "But Dad would never order the attack of an entire country. The name of Whitebeard would be sullied forever."
"Blackbeard claimed no connection to anyone named Whitebeard, he said he was independent. But regardless, he and his nine fellow pirates completely destroyed the country." Dalton said.
That filled everyone with dread. Only nine crew members and yet the Blackbeards were able to decimate a country?!
So why didn't Dalton seem so worried? Or…angry even?
"Though some say it was actually a good thing. The monarchy that existed back then was appalling in the people's eyes. This country was once known as the Drum Kingdom. And its king's name was Wapol. He was the worst king possible!"
"You mean that fat guy with the metal jaw?" Calvin asked bluntly. "We sent him flying when he tried to take our ship."
Vivi suddenly gasped. "I knew he looked familiar! I met Wapol once at a monarch meeting my father took me to. But when we met him yesterday, he called himself a pirate."
"He must have trying to camouflage himself. He's probably been wandering the sea trying to return here." Dalton theorized.
"I'm not surprised he was kicked out. Marshall D. Teach was one of the strongest members of Dad's fleet, even if he never became a division commander." Draco said.
"It's not even that, Wapol's army didn't even try to fight! The second he learned how strong the pirates were, he just up and abandoned the country and fled to the sea! The entire nation was thrown into despair." Dalton said angrily.
"What a scoundrel!" Double-D gasped in disgust.
"Yeah, even I can tell that's low." Eddy frowned.
"Well, at least it's all over now. Those of us remaining in this now-nameless country have come together in order to rebuild. But many still live in fear of Wapol's return." Dalton said.
"Well if he tries showing his ugly mug here...we'll kick him right out!" Hilda said, punching her hammy fist into her palm.
-OP-
Meanwhile, the aforementioned witchm Dr. Kureha returned home with two others by her side.
The first was a blue nosed reindeer wearing a red top hat with a pirate skull on it.
The other was a teenage girl with mid-length black hair, wearing a tube-top that said 'Dark' on it and shorts decorated with a pirate skull. She was a little on the big side, but also toned.
"Well, that was modestly challenging." Kureha sighed as went for some booze.
"Hardly, grandma." The girl sighed, boredom clear in her voice. "Tiedious, yeah. But there was no life or death."
"At least the father cared."
That came from the reindeer, who was smiling happily. The girl then knelt down and hugged him.
"Your heard were idiots to not see the bright light you bring, Chopper." She said, a small smile on her face.
Chopper then began to shrink, until he was the same size as a human toddler and standing on two feet so that he could hug the girl back.
"And you gotta be crazy for denying your hugs, Luna." He smiled as he nestled in, then shooting Kureha a look. "Then again, you ARE doctrine's granddaughter."
Kureha took a swig of her drink before smiling.
"Ah, who am I kidding? Helping a kid feel better always helps make this job easier."
A little boy had suddenly gotten sick at a restaurant Kureha had taken Luna for a birthday meal and after some begging from the initially rude father, the two had done their magic as Chopper kept anyone from interfering.
It was an odd existence for the trio; living alone mostly but helping whenever they felt like it. But it worked for them…and was soon about to change.
Knightmare Lord A/N:
We arrive at Drum Island, where we get a first glimpse at our reindeer boi Chopper as well as an added OC; Luna Payne, who belongs to an old acquaintance of mine, Dimensional-Expander, all rights go to him. We'll see more of her in action next chapter.