In the castle atop the mountain. Sherlock felt as if he'd just had an incredibly satisfying sleep—the kind that, in his memory, he'd only experienced before the age of seven, when he lived with his parents and sister.
Slowly opening his eyes, Sherlock found his mind unusually refreshed, his brain feeling as if it had been rinsed clean with water, making his thoughts flow with exceptional clarity. He was certain that if he'd had this level of mental strength back then, he could have effortlessly brought Nami here. (It seems mental exhaustion has a strong enhancing effect on mental power. I could do this a few more times in the future. Hmm, it's just that the process is a bit uncomfortable.)
Sherlock sat up in bed and looked around.
This was a somewhat outdated room, with tables cluttered with all sorts of instruments and skulls from unknown animals. The walls were hung with numerous short knives and sharp axes, giving off an extremely eerie vibe. The burning fireplace warmed the entire room, filling the air with a rich medicinal scent.
"Hee hee hee hee, you're awake, glasses kid."
"Are you happy now?" The newcomer was an old lady dressed in a crop top, styled quite fashionably, but her heavily wrinkled old face starkly contrasted with her figure that brimmed with the vitality of a sixteen-year-old girl, creating a rather jarring sense of dissonance.
(Kid? ... It's been a long time since anyone called me that. But is she really 139 years old? Looks like Dalton was right—this really is a 'witch'!)
Sherlock thought to himself, then picked up his silver-rimmed glasses from the cabinet beside the bed and put them on.
"You must be..."
"Want to know the secret to my eternal youth?" Dr. Kureha pushed her sunglasses up onto her forehead, her eyes burning intently as she looked at Sherlock.
"Uh, I'm still very young; I don't need to worry about that yet." Sherlock adjusted his glasses and hurriedly asked, "Doctor, how is my companion...?"
"Your three companions, you mean?" Dr. Kureha grinned, revealing a set of white, neatly aligned teeth. "Rest assured, all three of them are out of danger."
"Three?" Sherlock was startled at first, then his face lit up with surprise.
"Yeah, one little girl with a five-day illness—I gave her an antibiotic injection, and she's past the critical point now.
"As for the other two, Chopper is treating them..."
Before Dr. Kureha could finish, there was a loud bang as the room's door was suddenly slammed open. A strange creature with a pink hat and earthy yellow fur came charging in, yelling, followed by two ferocious-looking humans.
"Eeyah! Doctorine, save me!"
"Meat, don't run!"
"Wait, Luffy! Meat needs to be cooked first before it's tasty!"
"Luffy? Sanji?" Sherlock stared blankly as the two idiots chased the small thing around the room, darting left and right. Amid a cacophony of clanging and crashing sounds, the room—which had been reasonably tidy— was instantly turned into something resembling a prehistoric slaughterhouse by these three. At the same time, with their ruthless destruction, Sherlock could clearly feel the body of the 139-year-old "blooming flower" witch beside him trembling slightly, causing cold sweat to trickle down his forehead. (How did these two guys get here? And what are they doing? Why can that little thing speak human language? Could it be the Chopper who's treating Sanji and Luffy...?) Perhaps sensing Sherlock's gaze, both Sanji and Luffy temporarily paused their pursuit and turned to look at the dumbfounded sorcerer.
"Haha, Sherlock, you're finally awake! You sure can sleep." The idiot captain grinned widely.
"Nice work, Sherlock!" Sanji gave Sherlock an approving look. "For getting Nami-san here, I'll let you try my secret deer steak later!"
"Aaaaaah, I hate you humans!" The terrified mysterious creature bolted away at the words, with Luffy and the other hot on its heels...
"Looks like your two companions are recovering quite quickly." No sooner had the "witch" spoken than a wooden table, one of its legs knocked loose by Luffy, finally gave way. The tabletop tilted, and the colorful potion bottles on it immediately smashed to the floor with a series of crash sounds—the crisp noise of shattering glass piercing the quiet room.
"..." Sherlock fell silent, his expression extremely awkward.
Dr. Kureha looked at the mess of a room, sighed, and pulled her sunglasses down from her forehead with a darkened face, putting them on.
"Those two—one had severe full-body frostbite, the other lost too much blood and had six broken ribs plus a cracked spine."
"But soon..." The old lady said this while magically pulling two gleaming large cleavers from her waist, pairing them with her somewhat punk outfit to give her the vibe of a hotshot gang enforcer.
"Their medical records are about to add 'severe full-body knife wounds'!"
With that, Dr. Kureha twirled the blades a few times and dashed out madly with the two cleavers in hand, her incredible speed leaving Sherlock tongue-tied.
(She's really 139???)
Sherlock supported his forehead with his hand, shaking his head helplessly. Why wasn't there a single normal person here? But speaking of normal people... (Right, I should go check on Nami first.)
A few hours earlier, a group of the villagers' least welcome guests had arrived at Big Horn Village.
"As expected, burning houses are the best to eat!" Valpo swallowed the house fragments in his mouth, then let out a satisfied burp. As the user of the Swallow-Swallow Fruit, this iron-mouthed dwarf could eat anything, but roasted houses were his particular favorite. "Ahahaha! Is this the 'taste' of home? It really brings back memories! I'm finally back!!" Valpo's laughter was extremely grating, making the distant villagers glare at him in anger, but intimidated by the armed soldiers, they could only seethe in silence.
"Leave this island, Valpo!" Dalton stepped out from the crowd with a group of weapon-wielding villagers, shouting sternly at their former king: "The Drum Kingdom no longer exists. You're not welcome here!"
"Dalton? Your two-faced betrayal doesn't surprise me!" Valpo glared at his former subordinate with a face full of malice. "I should have killed you and all those disobedient peasants long ago!"
"We're going to end your rule, Valpo!" With that, the burly, ox-like man's body began to swell. His feet turned into hooves, thick black fur sprouted on his face, and two curved horns protruded from his forehead.
Zoan-type Devil Fruit, Ox-Ox Fruit - Wild Ox Form.
In his beastman form, Dalton's ox eyes locked onto the enemy before him: "All our citizens, and the entire Drum Island, will be reborn!"
"Well said, but..." Valpo waved his hand, and his two eager top cadres immediately stepped forward: "...it's meaningless!!"
"The time has come! I've finally waited for this moment!!" Dalton let out a skyward roar, then charged at Valpo in a single powerful stride, while the villagers behind him raised their weapons, ready to strike.
"You're! Courting! Death!" Valpo spat out each word viciously, then shook his arms—the limbs instantly transforming into cannons, with all sorts of weapons sprouting from his body.
In this icy, snowy landscape, a great battle was inevitable.
However, neither side noticed that from the distant mountain, a snow wave capable of swallowing everything was rapidly approaching.
... Nami's hospital room. Sherlock, Luffy, Sanji, and Dr. Kureha sat around a table, eating snacks and drinking tea, a complete turnaround from their earlier life-or-death attitudes.
"Be our partner, granny!" Luffy said earnestly to Dr. Kureha. Through this lesson with Nami's illness, the straw hat kid had realized how crucial it was to have an excellent ship doctor on board—too bad he'd picked the wrong target. And his wording wasn't exactly flattering. "Watch your mouth; I'm still a woman in the prime of my youth, just over 130!" Bang! The age-defying Dr. Kureha flew into a kick that sent the idiot flying, the fierce gust from her powerful shot even making the leg-savvy curly-browed cook glance sideways.
"What a formidable granny..."
Bang! Sanji slid down the wall and landed on top of Luffy.
(These two guys are idiots through and through. With her refusal to act her age in that outfit, calling her granny is just asking for death!)
Sherlock pushed up his glasses without changing expression: "So, Doctor, about Nami's illness..."
"She's out of danger." Dr. Kureha picked up her cup and took a gentle sip of black tea, nodding satisfactorily: "But she needs at least three days of bed rest."
"Three days, huh? Could we maybe..." After all, with Vivi's country in peril, the Straw Hat crew's time was extremely precious.
"People who leave my presence are either fully recovered or dead—there's no third option!" Dr. Kureha cut off Sherlock, her expression displeased: "Why are you just like that little girl, in such a hurry?"
"And the medical fees—half your total assets, not one Berry less!"
"What? Half our total assets!!!" The money-loving navigator, who had been resting in bed, bolted upright at the words.
The old lady's casual remark was like a lit match igniting the "powder keg" in Nami's heart. She teleported in front of Dr. Kureha, her sharp movements nothing like those of someone just recovering from a serious illness.
"Hey, hey, hey, isn't this way too shady? How can you, as a doctor, take advantage of people like this? You..." Nami began ranting nonstop at the unscrupulous old doctor. (Look at her energy—where does she look like a patient!) Dr. Kureha stared at the indignantly orange-haired girl in astonishment. In her nearly century of practicing medicine, through all the storms she'd weathered, this was the first time she'd seen such a money-obsessed person.
"Alright, Nami, go back and rest." Sherlock patted Nami's fragrant shoulder with a dark look, then said to Dr. Kureha:
"Don't worry about the fees; we'll pay."
"Beautiful miss!"
"Oh, I received a very nice tip..." Dr. Kureha looked at Sherlock with an expression that said he was teachable, clearly pleased with the sorcerer's last words: "I like honest people like you. How about this—I'll give your companions' fees a 50% discount!"
"Ah, that's truly grateful." Sherlock bowed elegantly to Dr. Kureha, his face calm and composed.
(Nice one, Sherlock!)
Nami looked at Sherlock hopefully and blinked at him, as if saying to keep going and try to lower the fees even more...
Sherlock opened his mouth, about to say something else, when he suddenly felt a prying gaze.
He turned his head toward the door and spotted that strange antlered creature hiding behind it, looking at the strangers in the room with uncertainty and suspicion.
And it seemed to be hiding on the wrong side again...
"Meat! I want meat!"
"Reindeer steak, don't run!!"
"Eeyah! Help!"
The two idiots, who had been playing dead, suddenly sprang up like hounds catching a scent and pounced at the mysterious creature. It let out a miserable scream, turned, and fled, with the ensuing chaos growing farther and farther away.
It was hard to understand why these two were so obsessed with this little thing's meat. The three in the room fell silent for a long while... "Blue nose? A talking... doll?" Nami said uncertainly.
"His name is Chopper; he's an ordinary reindeer with a blue nose." Dr. Kureha explained to the two: "He can talk simply because he ate the Human-Human Fruit and gained human abilities..."
"And he's a doctor too~" At this point, Dr. Kureha's gaze softened unusually, as if recalling someone or something particularly worth cherishing.
"I passed all my medical knowledge on to him..."
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