The magic carpet cut through the blizzard like a heated knife through butter, soaring up the vertical face of the Drum Rock. The wind howled, a white abyss on all sides, but inside Ben's magical barrier, it was calm.
"We're here," Ben announced.
The carpet crested the peak. There, stark against the grey sky and white snow, stood the castle. It was ancient, its stone towers capped with snow, looking desolate and abandoned.
Except... the main double doors were slightly ajar. A warm, flickering light spilled out onto the snow.
"It's open?" Sanji asked, lighting a cigarette to combat the chill as they stepped off the carpet. "That's careless. Or an invitation."
Luffy grinned. "HELLO! IS THE DOCTOR HOME?!"
He marched right in. Sanji and Ben followed.
The entrance hall was massive, lined with dusty armor and smelling of old stone and potent herbs. It was silent.
"Hello?" Luffy shouted again. "We have a sick—"
WHAM!
There was no warning. No sound of footsteps. Just a blur of motion from the shadows.
A boot, moving with the speed of a cannonball, connected squarely with the side of Luffy's head.
"GWAAAAH!" Luffy flew sideways, smashing into a stone pillar and sliding down, stars circling his head.
"Luffy!" Sanji shouted, spinning around. "You, Old Lady, why did you hit my..."
POW!
A second kick, just as fast, caught Sanji in the ribs. He was launched across the hall, landing next to Luffy in a heap.
"Ow..." Sanji groaned. "That... was a heavy leg..."
Ben stood perfectly still. He hadn't moved. He watched as a figure stepped out of the shadows.
It was an old woman. But "old" felt like the wrong word. She was ancient, yet she moved with the lithe power of a jungle cat. She wore a midriff-baring top, low-rider hip-huggers, and a coat that looked wilder than Wapol's. Her hair was pale blonde, her face lined with a century of attitude, and she was sipping a bottle of plum wine.
"Who are you calling 'old lady'?" she snapped, her voice sharp as broken glass. "I am still in the flower of my youth! I'm only 139 years old!"
Sanji peeled his face off the floor. "139..." he wheezed. "I think... that qualifies as pretty damn old..."
WHACK!
She threw the empty wine bottle with sniper-like precision, hitting Sanji in the forehead and knocking him back down.
"Did you say something, brat? Or did you want to ask me the secret to my youthful complexion?"
Ben stepped forward. He adjusted his coat, put on his most charming, Dumbledore-esque smile, and bowed elegantly.
"My apologies, beautiful lady," Ben said, his voice smooth as silk. "My friends have terrible eyesight. The snow blindness, you understand. They couldn't possibly appreciate the vitality standing before them."
Dr. Kureha paused. She looked at Ben. She looked at the two idiots groaning on the floor. A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"Hmph. You have a better tongue than these monkeys," she grunted.
Ben said. "We are sorry to barge in, but the door was open, and we are desperate. One of our nakama is deathly ill. We heard you are the only one who can save her. Money... is no object."
Kureha took a swig from a new bottle she pulled from nowhere. She scanned them with piercing, pale eyes. "Sick? I don't see a sick person. Just three noisy men invading my home."
"She is here," Ben said. He placed the leather suitcase on a dusty table. "She is in a stasis field inside."
Kureha raised an eyebrow. She didn't look shocked. In her 139 years on the Grand Line, she had seen Devil Fruits that turned people into jackets, islands that floated on clouds, and giants who fought for a century. A girl in a suitcase was barely in the top ten weirdest things she'd seen this week.
"Show me," she ordered.
Ben opened the case. He reached in—his arm disappearing up to the shoulder—and gently lifted Nami out. She was wrapped in blankets, unconscious, her breath coming in shallow, painful rasps.
Kureha's demeanor changed instantly. The 'wild witch' vanished, replaced by the 'Doctor.' She stepped forward, placing a hand on Nami's forehead, checking her pulse, lifting her eyelid.
"High fever. Rapid pulse. The distinctive rash on the neck..." Kureha muttered. "How long?"
"Three days since the bite," Ben said. "We were on Little Garden."
"Kestia," Kureha pronounced, her voice grim. "The Five-Day Fever. It's extinct everywhere but those prehistoric islands. If you had waited another day, she would be dead. Another twelve hours, and the damage would be permanent."
Luffy and Sanji scrambled up, fear washing away the pain of the kicks.
"Can you save her?!" Luffy shouted.
"Shut up, boy," Kureha snapped, but there was no malice in it now. "Of course I can. I am Dr. Kureha. I hold the cure for everything except stupidity. Take her to the infirmary. Down the hall, second door on the left."
"I'll take her," Ben said, lifting Nami gently.
"Wait," Kureha said. She turned toward the dark hallway. "Hey! Assistant! We have a patient! Quit hiding and get the Cyclocymin ready!"
The crew looked down the hall.
A door creaked open.
Peeking out from behind the frame was a... creature. It was small, furry, and walked on two legs. It had antlers. And a bright blue nose.
But the most notable thing was how it was hiding. It had hidden its body behind the doorframe, but its entire head and antlers were sticking out, completely visible.
It was Tony Tony Chopper.
Luffy blinked. He looked at the antlers. He looked at the fur.
His stomach rumbled.
"MEAT!" Luffy roared.
Chopper shrieked—a high-pitched, terrified sound.
"VENISON!" Luffy yelled, drool flying. "IT'S A WALKING DEER! SANJI! CATCH IT!"
Luffy launched himself down the hall. Chopper screamed again and bolted, his little hooves clattering on the stone floor.
"GET BACK HERE, EMERGENCY FOOD!"
"NOOO! I'M NOT FOOD! I'M A DOCTOR!"
They vanished around a corner, a blur of rubber and fur.
Kureha sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Every time..."
Ben cleared his throat. "Captain!" he shouted, his voice amplified by magic. "STOP!"
Down the hall, the sound of skidding feet. Luffy popped his head back around the corner. "What? It's getting away!"
"That," Ben said patiently, "is the Doctor's Assistant. If you eat him, Nami dies."
Luffy froze. He looked at the trembling reindeer peeking out from a suit of armor. He looked at Nami, pale and sick in Ben's arms.
The gears in his head turned.
Meat... or Navigator?
Meat... or Nami?
"Oh," Luffy said, looking disappointed. "He's... a doctor? Not a steak?"
"He is a doctor," Ben confirmed. "We need him. Let him work."
Luffy pouted, but stepped back. "Okay. Sorry, deer-guy. I won't eat you yet."
Chopper, still trembling, looked at Ben with wide, watery eyes. Ben gave him a gentle smile and a nod. "Please, Doctor. Our friend needs you."
Hearing the word "Doctor," Chopper's fear wavered. He shivered, then steeled himself. He scurried past Luffy (who was drooling slightly) and ran to Kureha's side.
"Let's go," Kureha commanded.
---
In the infirmary, Kureha and Chopper worked with a speed and synergy that was beautiful to watch. Kureha barked orders, and Chopper, in his heavy point form (Brain Point), mixed compounds, ground herbs, and prepared injections with deft, human hands.
Ben stood back, watching. Chopper is incredible, he thought. His medical knowledge is already genius-level. Once he gets access to Merry's supercomputer... he's going to be unstoppable.
Once Nami was stabilized, an IV drip of the antibiotic flowing into her arm, Kureha stepped back.
"She will live," the old doctor said, wiping her hands. "The fever will break in a few hours. She needs rest. And warmth. And nutrients."
"Nutrients!" Sanji perked up. "I can do that! Does this castle have a kitchen? I need to prepare a recovery meal for Nami-swan!"
Kureha eyed Sanji. "Downstairs. It's dusty, but fully stocked. Don't burn my castle down, love-cook."
"I would never burn a kitchen!" Sanji declared, offended, and sprinted off to find the culinary wing.
Ben checked his watch. "Right. The patient is safe. The cook is cooking. The captain is..."
He looked over. Luffy was poking a suit of armor, trying to see if there was a person inside.
"...distracted."
"I have some friends waiting at the bottom of the mountain," Ben said to Kureha. "I promised to pick them up."
"You flew up here on a rug," Kureha noted, eyeing the carpet rolled up in the corner. "You're a strange one, boy. Go get your friends. But if they break anything, I'm adding it to the bill. And my bill is expensive."
"Understood," Ben smiled.
He grabbed the carpet, tossed it out the window, and jumped on.
"Descendo!"
He dove. The wind rushed past him. Minutes later, he was hovering outside Dalton's window again.
"Taxi!" Ben called out.
Vivi, Usopp, and Dalton looked up, startled.
"You're back!" Usopp cheered. "Is Nami okay?"
"She's being treated," Ben assured them. "The doctor is... eccentric... but skilled. Come on up."
They piled onto the carpet. Dalton hesitated.
"I... I should stay," Dalton said. "The village needs me. Wapol's men are still... confused. And I need to ensure Wapol himself keeps shoveling snow."
"Fair enough," Ben nodded. "We'll take care of things up there. Thanks for everything, Dalton-san."
With Vivi and Usopp secure, Ben shot back up the mountain.
When they arrived at the castle, the atmosphere had shifted from 'emergency' to 'weird sleepover.'
Sanji had found the kitchen and was creating smells that wafted through the cold stone halls—soup, roasting meat, warm bread.
Luffy had found a door leading to a snowy courtyard and was rolling a massive snowball.
Usopp, seeing the snow, immediately forgot his fear of the witch-doctor.
"LUFFY! I CHALLENGE YOU! SNOWBALL FIGHT!"
"YOU'RE ON!"
Vivi rushed to the infirmary to sit with Nami.
Ben, however, had a different destination.
---
He found Kureha in the main hall, drinking more plum wine.
"Doctorine," Ben said respectfully.
"It's Doctor Kureha to you, brat," she grunted. "Or 'Master of Medicine.'"
"Master Kureha," Ben corrected. "Your castle... it was once the seat of the King. Wapol took the doctors, but did he take the books?"
Kureha laughed, a sharp, barking sound. "Wapol? Read? He ate books, he didn't read them. Yes, the Royal Library is intact. It contains medical texts from the last five hundred years of Drum Kingdom's history. Why?"
"I'm a scholar," Ben lied smoothly (partially). "I collect knowledge. I would like access to your library."
Kureha narrowed her eyes. "Knowledge isn't free. And these are secrets of the world's greatest medical superpower."
"Name your price," Ben said. "Add it to the treatment bill. We have... significant funds."
Kureha grinned, showing sharp teeth. "I like a man who pays. Go ahead. West Wing. But don't steal anything. If a single page is missing, I'll take it out of your hide."
"I won't take a thing," Ben promised. "Physically."
He walked to the West Wing. He pushed open the heavy oak doors.
Ben stopped. He let out a low whistle.
It was magnificent.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves, towering thirty feet high, packed with leather-bound tomes, scrolls, and journals. The accumulated medical wisdom of centuries. Anatomy, pathology, pharmacology, surgery, rare diseases... it was all here.
He didn't pull books off the shelves one by one. That was too slow.
He raised the Elder Wand high.
"Geminio Maxima."
He didn't cast it on a single book. He cast it on the concept of the library.
Golden light exploded from the wand, washing over the shelves. All the physical copies of books are created and stored in his suitcase.
He whispered, "Chopper is a genius, but with this database indexed and searchable by the Merry's AI? He'll be a god of medicine."
Ten minutes later, the light faded. The books returned to their shelves, undisturbed.
Ben closed his suitcase with a satisfying thud.
He had a copy of everything.
He walked back to the infirmary.
Nami was sleeping peacefully, her color returning. Vivi was dozing in a chair next to her.
Chopper was hiding behind a cabinet, peeking at Ben.
Ben smiled at the reindeer. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, wrapped cotton candy he'd created earlier using Momo's quirk.
He tossed it.
Chopper caught it. He sniffed it. Then he popped it in his mouth.
His eyes lit up. "Sweet!"
"You're doing a good job, Doctor," Ben said softly.
"Shut up!" Chopper yelled, doing a wiggly dance of joy. "Complimenting me doesn't make me happy, you jerk! Hehehehe!"
Ben chuckled. He's adorable. And valuable.
He walked to the window. Outside, in the snow, Luffy had tackled Usopp and was trying to bury him. Sanji was chasing a mountain goat, trying to milk it for a soup base.
The crew was safe. The navigator was healing. The library was secured.
Now, all they had to do was wait for Nami to wake up... and convince a reindeer to become a pirate.
"Easy," Ben murmured, watching the snow fall. "Compared to fighting giants, recruiting a reindeer should be a walk in the park."