Chapter 19 - 19: Birth of the Cherry Blossoms and An Alliance Acquired!

"So, I take it you had a run in with Wapol before, young man," said Dr. Kureha to Luffy while she stared at the two headless bodies. Luffy stopped walking towards the castle and turned and looked at her before he spoke.

"Yeah, that fat a.s.s ate part of my ship and tried wanted our treasure," Luffy replied before he turned and walked towards the group. "I sent him packing once but it looked like he hadn't learned his lesson and the fact that he was here meant he somehow got past my crew down in Bighorn..." he said before he paused and narrowed his eyes before continuing. "...and that just pissed me off," he said in a cold tone," causing Dr. Kureha to chuckle.

"Well, you're not hearing any complaints from me," he said as he pulled a bottle of plum sake from out of nowhere and drank it. "however, I think my companion over here might have a few complaints," she said while pointing over to Chopper who was staring at the two heartless bodies in shock. Luffy looked over at Chopper and chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt. Chopper hearing that they were talking about him snapped out of his gazing and looking looked at Luffy.

"Chopper, I am sorry I stole your revenge from you," Luffy said as he walked forward and patted the top of Chopper's hat gently. "But a pure soul like yourself shouldn't have to dirty your hands on sc.u.m like that," he said causing a thin smile to appear on Dr. Kureha's face. "And only chasing after revenge will only do more harm than good," he added causing Chopper to nod his head slowly. Luffy then looked up and looked off to the right. "I can sense a large group of people come here," he said causing everyone to look in the direction of where he was looking. " From what I can tell there are a lot of them flying here...or maybe floating...and my crew seems to be with them," Luffy added with a confused look on his face.

"Flying here?" Sanji asked as he walked and stood beside Luffy.

"I don't know how to explain it but they are pretty high up from the ground and are moving in this direction, pretty slowly I must add," he said.

"They must be using the rope I have tied to my old house," Dr. Kureha said causing Luffy and Sanji to look at her and wait for her to elaborate a bit more. "It is how Chopper and I get down the mountain. There is a man-powered pulley cart attached to the rope so they must be using that," he said causing Luffy to nod his head understanding what she was talking about. After waiting for another five minutes the group finally saw something started to rise up from the snow in front of them. It was an entrance/exit made out of metal. After it raised up a group of individuals stepped out of it and began looking around. The first person was a man dress in the uniforms of one of Wapol's guard causing Luffy to put up his guard and was getting ready to attack him only to see the man had a full head of green hair and realized that it was his vice-captain.

"Well there is Zoro and the rest," Luffy said as he watched as every member of his crew stood behind Zoro. The group saw their captain and cook and started to smile before they began walking towards them.

"Hey captain," Zoro greeted as he walked up to the group.

"Zoro," Luffy said greeting his first mate. "What are all of you doing here? I thought you were watching the ship," he said while looking at his first mate.

"Well you see I decided to go for a sim and do some exercises but I got lost," he said causing Luffy to sigh.

"Of course you did," he said with a sigh as he shook his head.

"I then ended up in some town when some army was attacking the village. I saw the guys were fighting so I went and helped. After that this Dalton guy wanted to come up here because some dude named Wapol was up here," Zoro said while pointing to a badly injured Dalton exiting the metal entrance.

"Speaking of which, one of you want to explain to me how Wapol got past all of you and even made it here in the first place," Luffy said with his arms folded and while looking at his crew.

"It's not our faults captain," Yosaku said while the rest nodded. "Wapol and his two bodyguards disappeared in the snow, it was impossible for us to find them," he said causing Luffy to raise his eyebrow.

"Yeah, Dalton said it's their personal fighting style. Apparently, they use the white snow as cover and camouflage themselves in it before they attack their enemies," Johnny added causing Luffy to nod his head understanding what they meant.

"Luffy," came the voice of Vivi causing Luffy to look over at her. "Is Nami okay?" she asked in a worried voice. Luffy smiled before he replied.

"She is fine," he said causing all of them to smile. "The good doctor over here," he said while indicating to Dr. Kureha, "treated her and she is in the castle resting now," he said causing Vivi to nod before she and Sanji headed into the castle with Marianne following behind.

"By the way captain," Zoro said getting his attention. "On our way up here we saw something fly off the mountain what was that?" he asked.

"Oh that just the king of this country," Luffy replied in a casual tone.

"Oh okay," Zoro replied. Dalton who was within hearing distance hear what Luffy said and had his eyes widen in shock.

"You beat Wapol?" he asked as he limped towards the group.

"That I did...in fact I don't think he is even alive," Luffy said causing Dalton and the group of villagers who exited out of the metal entrance to have their eyes widen in shocks. "I do know that his two lackeys are dead for sure," Luffy said while pointing at the two headless bodies.

"That's Chess and Kuromarimo!" one of the villagers screamed out in shock.

"Hey Usopp I made us a new friend," Luffy said piquing Usopp's interest. "He's a reindeer," Luffy added while he turned and pointed at the spot where Chopper was causing everyone to look there and see nothing there.

"Umm Luffy," Usopp said. "There is nothing there," he said causing Luffy to look at where Chopper was only him not there anymore.

"Where did he got!?" Luffy yelled/asked. "He was just here!" he said as he began looking around.

"You should know by now Chopper isn't good with crowds," Dr. Kureha said before she downed her sake. Suddenly someone screamed out from the crowd of villagers.

"Hey! Look over there! There is something hiding behind that tree!" a man with a musket yelled.

"What is that? Is that a reindeer?" another man asked.

"No...that's a monster!" another man yelled out causing Luffy's eyes to widen.

"It's a yeti! Shoot him!" Usopp yelled as they aimed their guns at Chopper.

"NOOOO!" Luffy yelled out trying to stop the villagers. Seeing that they were not paying attention to him he quickly turned his body into lightning and teleported himself in front of the tree where Chopper out and spread his arms out wide protecting him with his back facing the villagers. As Luffy appeared in front of Chopper the villagers fired causing everyone's eyes including those who fired their guns, to widen in horror when they saw Luffy appear there. Luffy not waiting to die quickly covered his back in armament haki and took on all of their bullets.

"W-why?" Chopper stuttered out with tears in his eyes. Luffy simply smiles at him before he replied.

"Because you are my friend...and I always protect my friends," he said causing chopper to start crying before he ran towards Luffy and hug onto his legs. "Come on let's go meet my friends," Luffy said to a crying Chopper. He was a bit hesitant but after but he eventually nodded his head and took Luffy's hand before they began walking back to the group. While they were walking towards the group Luffy kept giving the villagers a glare that promised a slow and painful death if they tried anything.

"Guys this is Chopper," Luffy said to his crew. "And he is not only a doctor but super cool fighting, and transforming reindeer," Luffy said causing Usopp and Johnny to have stars in their eyes.

"Really!" they said in awe as they bend down to Chopper level and began telling him how awesome he was causing the poor reindeer to blush uncontrollably. Just then and there Dalton collapse to his knees causing everyone to rush over to him.

"Dalton are you okay?!" the villagers asked in a panic as they rushed to his side.

"Take him to the medical ward, I'll fix him up," Dr. Kureha said all of the villagers before she headed back inside the castle. Luffy and the rest of the crew then headed back inside as well to check on Nami. When they entered the castle they saw Nami begin dragged up the stairs by Dr. Kureha while Vivi, Sanji, Nojiko, and Marianne laying on the ground with two large bumps on each of their heads.

"I guess Nami tried to escape," Luffy said with a chuckle before following the doctor up the stairs. When they arrived in the room Luffy went and braced against the wall while he watches the villagers carry an injured Dalton to a spare bed in the room by the Dr. Kureha placed Nami back in her bed. The doctor then proceeded to treat Dalton's wounds while Luffy walked over to the nearby window and opened it. He then summoned his usual thundercloud confusing everyone including his crew members. Luffy reached into the cloud and felt around for a second before he pulled out a bag that doesn't appear to be that heavy he then reached in the bag and pulled out a bunch of black cloths confusing everyone more.

"What's that captain?" Nami asked from her position in the bed.

"This is a bunch of copies of my flag I had made," Luffy said causing her to nod her head even though she was still confused as to what he was going to do with them. Luffy then walked over to Dalton's bed and placed 7 of the flags on them before he spoke.

"Hang these up around the country," he said causing everyone's eyes to widen. "This will let other pirates know that this island and country is under my protection and is part of my territory," he added while everyone looked on in shock.

"Wait for a second!" Dalton yelled from his position in the bed. "Even though we are grateful to you for taking care of Wapol for us, we cannot live under a pirate flag," he said while Luffy looked on with a bored look on his face. "This country is a part of the World Government. They would never all this to happen," he said causing Luffy to chuckle.

"Being a part of the World Government doesn't mean anything here," he said confusing all of them once more. "Fishman Island is also a member of the World Government and they are under the protection of Whitebeard. So, how is this different?" Luffy asked as he folded his arms and leaned back against the wall. "And the fact of the matter is, you were part of the World Government since before Wapol left this country to become a pirate and even though he left he was still technically your King," Luffy said causing an angry look to spread across the villagers face at the mention of Wapol's name. "And when he returned he revolted against him, he who is a member of the World Government's council of kings. That would be taken as you trying to start a revolution against the World Government, and I am sure you know how they would react," Luffy said causing Dalton to look down in contemplation while the other villagers were trying not to believe what Luffy is saying.

"How do we know what you are saying is the truth?" one brave villager asked causing the captain of the straw hat pirates to chuckle before a grim look spread across his face.

"If you don't believe me then I could prove it," he said causing everyone to look at him with interest especially Vivi. "Have any of you here ever heard of a place called Ohara?" he asked causing Dalton and Dr. Kureha eyes to widen while a few older villagers looked confused.

"What about Ohara? They were going to use forbidden knowledge to destroy the world," a woman in her mid to late forty's said.

"You shouldn't believe everything you read," Luffy said with a sigh. "All those people were doing was trying to learn the history of the world and the World government killed every man woman and kill on that island whether they were actually part of the group who was studying the history or not," Luffy said causing his crew member's eyes to widen in shock along with a few of the villagers. no one said a world after hearing that, the entire room fell into a silence as they all tried to contemplate what they just heard.

"Hypothetically speaking," Dalton said breaking the silence. "If we do agree to your protection what do you have to gain from this?" he asked causing Luffy to smile widely.

"Nothing much really," he said causing Dalton to raise his eyebrow. "Just when any of my sh.i.p.s dock on the island they get their stocks refilled for free and this island will be one of the hubs of the organization that I will be building," Luffy said causing some of his crew members to look at him with a puzzled look on their face at the mention of the organization.

"What is this organization?" one of the villagers asked.

"Think of it as a transport and distribution service of high-end artifacts and extremely rare products," Luffy said. As he said that he noticed Nami was practically foaming at the mouth at the thought of all the money. "In exchange for all that you will get my protection, any pirate, marine, or ANYONE for that matter comes here and causes any trouble all you have to do is give me a call and I will be here in a flash of lightning...literally," he said causing a few of the villagers to look around and nod slightly liking the idea of someone as strong as Luffy protecting them. "And I recall you saying that this island once produced the best medicine in the whole Grand Line, why don't we return this country to its once great glory?" Luffy said sweetening the deal a bit giving the villagers the once finally push they needed.

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Dr. Kureha asked getting interested in the idea. "Well, this organization will be spread out throughout all four blues and the Grand Line. I am sure there are some herbs, equipment, and other medicines that you guys need that are hard to come by, and I'm talking about both the legal and illegal kind," he said causing her smirk to nod her head. "Well, I can get them and bring them to you. Another plus of all this is the medicine you produce here I can distribute them all over the world for you," he said causing the villagers to talk among themselves about multiple benefits to their country.

"I see," the doctor said, "So you are going to be involved with the everyday normal market AND the black market," she said causing Luffy, Gem, Mikita, and Marianne to smirk.

"That's right," he replied. While some of the villagers didn't like the fact that there was going to be some illegal dealings, they couldn't deny the fact that it would benefit their country greatly.

"I may not like the whole black market thing, I have to agree with Luffy that this will benefit your country greatly," Vivi added causing Luffy to look over her and smile.

"Nice of you to come around, Princess," he said causing Dalton to look at Vivi with interest. "Now," Luffy spoke in a commanding tone getting everyone's attention. "With there being no king here in this country that gives me some form of authority and power here," Luffy said causing the villagers and Dalton to narrow their eyes. Dalton was about to speak but before he could Luffy spoke again. "And with that power, I appoint you Dalton as the new King of this kingdom," Luffy said causing Dalton's eyes to widen and his jaw to drop.

"W-what? Meee?" Dalton stammered out in shock. "No, I cannot be the king. I am-" he was cut off from speaking Luffy once again.

"Does anyone object to this ruling?" Luffy asked looking to the villagers while ignoring Dalton. No one of the villagers objected, instead they all smiled. "Well then Dalton, it looks like the people agree with me," he said with a chuckle causing Dalton to stare at Luffy with his mouth left hanging open. "Just hang those flags up at the port and in the towns around the country," he added causing Dalton to reluctantly nod his head.

"Fine, we will hang them up," he replied causing Luffy to smile and nod his head. "Hopefully this may help us prevent another attack," he said causing Luffy to look at him with a confused look on his face.

"Another attack?" Luffy asked as he tilted his head to the side and look at the newly named king with a puzzled look on his face.

"Oh right Luffy you guys had already left to bring Nami to the doctor. So, you don't know why Wapol left and became a pirate," Usopp said from his position on the floor near Nami's bed.

"Yeah, apparently a powerful pirate by the name of Blackbeard attack this country with his crew and instead of defending his country, Wapol took his army and left after seeing Blackbeard's power," Gem said cooly as he leaned against the frame of the door.

"Blackbeard?" Luffy asked with a confused looked on his face. "Never heard of a pirate by that name," he added before he began to think.

'Blackbeard, with a name like that it makes it sound like they are the opposing the old man,' Luffy thought to himself. 'Wonder if that's why Ace is in Paradise,' he added in his head.

"Dalton said that there were only five members, but all five of them were extremely powerful," said a scared Usopp.

"Don't worry about them, if they try something again I'll take care of them," Luffy said calming everyone down. Luffy then looked over at Nami and spoke to her. "how are you feeling?" he asked. Nami looked up at him and smiled before she replied.

"I'm feeling better, captain," she said in her usual voice not sounding sick what so ever. "We really need to leave and get Vivi home," she said causing Luffy to nod his head before he replied.

"That's true...but the very YOUNG doctor over here," he said while pointing at Dr. Kureha, "Scares the crap out of me," he said causing sigh and pull the covers over her head.

"Young doctor?" Usopp asked causing Luffy to shake his head. "Where?" he asked. As he asked the question he received a kick to the back of his head by the good doctor herself causing everyone to chuckle lightly.

"Brat," the doctor said before she turned to Dalton and speak. "Dalton, surely you would know where the key to the arsenal is," he said causing Dalton to look at her with a surprised look on his face before he replied.

"The arsenal? Why do you need to get in there?" he asked from in position on the bed.

"That's really none of your business now is it," she said before drinking some more of her plum sake.

"Wapol always carried that key with him, to keep it secured he said," Dalton replied, "And in this case, the key was likely blown into the sky with his body," he added causing Luffy to chuckle nervously before he spoke.

"Oops," Luffy said with a slight smile.

"Well, that's a shame," Dr. Kureha said.

"Zoro, go cut down the door," Luffy said to his vice-captain.

"Umm captain," Zoro said causing Luffy to look at him. "I don't have my swords," he said causing Luffy to sigh before he spoke.

"Of course you don't," Luffy said before he turned to Gem and spoke. "Gem, blow the door down," he said causing him to nod and looked to the doctor waiting for her to lead him to the door.

"Good," the doctor replied before she turned to the group of villagers and spoke. "You guys come with me I have something I need you to do," she said scaring the villagers at first before they reluctantly agreed and followed her and Gem out the door of the room towards the arsenal. As the group exited the room Luffy turned to nami and spoke.

"Nami, get ready to go," he said in a commanding tone getting everyone's attention.

"Luffy we can't just leave now! She needs her rest!" Vivi yelled as she stood up from her stool.

"I know but we are going to have a doctor on board," Luffy replied calmly ignoring the fact that she just yelled at him.

"A doctor?" Zoro asked with a confused look on his face. "Who is our doctor?" he asked.

"Our doctor is right there," he said while pointing to Chopper.

"W-what?" Chopper said in surprised while looking up at Luffy. "I can't join your crew," he said in a sad voice.

"Sure you can, it'll be a lot of fun Luffy replied with a smile.

"I can't...I'm not a human! I'm a reindeer with antlers and hooves!" Chopper screamed while Luffy looked on with the smile still present on his face. "Maybe I do want to be a pirate, but I cannot ever be one of you! I'm not human! I'm a monster and I can't become a pirate or your friend and I can't join your crew!" he yelled with tears in his eyes. Everyone in the room looked on at the little reindeer with a sad look on their face. The girls were resisting the urge to run and hug the poor little guy. "I just want to say thank you, I really appreciate you asking me to join your ship. That was really nice, so thank you but I am going to stay here for now and if you ever want you can stop by here again and-," Chopper couldn't finish his sentence because he was interrupted by Luffy's voice.

"Oh shut up and let's go," Luffy replied said with a grin on his face causing Chopper to start crying loudly before he ran out of the room.

'Most people don't make friends by telling people to shut up,' Zoro thought as he looked on with a smile.

"Alright, let's go wait outside," Luffy said before he jumped up on the window and hopped on the thundercloud that he had summoned earlier. He then reached into the cloud and pulled out a medium size c.h.e.s.t and opened it. When he opened it everyone saw it was filled with transponder snails of all sizes. He took one and tossed it to Dalton before he spoke. "If you ever need me just push the button with the straw hat," Luffy said causing Dalton to look down at the snail and see a number of buttons for dialing numbers before he finally spotted the button with a straw hat on it.

"Thank you, for everything,' Dalton said with a smile on his face as he watched as Luffy's crew hopped out the window one by one.

"Don't mention it," Luffy replied. When everyone was on the cloud Luffy give it a mental command to lower itself to the ground before the thundercloud began to descend to the snow-covered ground below them.

"Nami are you sure you are okay?" Asked a concerned Usopp.

"I sure am," replied while giving him a thumbs up. "I feel great," she said with a wide smile causing his sister to smile as well. When the cloud got about 2 feet above the ground it hovered in place allowing everyone to hop off. Once everyone was off waiting on their little reindeer doctor Luffy kept the cloud hovering near them to take the crew back to the ship when they were ready. As they were waiting for Chopper, a few of Luffy's crew members started building snowmen while Luffy and his vice-captain leaned against the thundercloud and were talking.

"Are you sure it is a good idea to get this place involved in the Underworld?" Zoro asked with his arms folded as he leaned against the cloud.

"Yeah," Luffy said as he looked u the sky. "If anything this place may be the most profitable," he added causing Zoro to look over at him with a confused look.

"How?" he asked.

"It's simple really, the medicine produced here could be sold and distributed in both the regular market and the black market," Luffy replied.

"But we are pirates," Zoro said while looking at Luffy. "We can't just sell medicine to hospitals or where ever," he said causing Luffy to nod his head in agreement.

"You're right, that's why this organization won't be tied back to us," he said causing Zoro to look at him with a puzzled look on his face. He was about to voice his confusion but before he could speak Luffy spoke once more. "I will be leading this organization under an alias," he said causing Zoro to understand how things were going happen in the organization.

"I see," he said before looking at the rest of the crew mainly the three new recruits from Little Garden. "And I take it those three are going to be acting as your officers in this organization?" Zoro asked while looking at the three former Baroque Works agents.

"Yeah, and whoever else is powerful enough command a ship," Luffy said with a sigh. Zoro was about to say something else but before he could speak he was interrupted by a lot of screams coming from the castle.

"What's going on?" Nami asked as she looked at the doorway of the castle. "There is a lot of noise coming from the castle," she said. Luffy then pushed off from the cloud and looked to his crew before he spoke.

"Quick everyone gets on the cloud!" he said with haste confusing all of them.

"What? Why?" Vivi asked as she stood up.

"We have a very angry doctor heading our way!" Luffy said causing Everyone to run and hop onto the thunder cloud. Luffy then stayed on the ground before he commanded the could to hover a bit higher in the air.

"Luffy aren't you getting on?" Marianne asked in a worried voice.

"Don't worry I'm just waiting on Chopper," he said as he looked up to the little girl with a smile. Luffy then turned back to the castle and saw Chopper running towards them full speed while pulling a sled with a very angry doctor chasing him.

"Everyone hurry and..." Chopper trailed off when he saw everyone standing on a cloud.

"Come one Chopper hurry!" Luffy said causing him to pick up the pace and run towards Luffy. Luffy then gave a mental command to the cloud to expand its size as he grabbed onto Chopper and the seld before turned his body into lightning and teleporting them onto the cloud safely away from the angry doctor. As they appeared on the cloud Luffy commanded the cloud to take off towards the ship and away from the angry doctor who was throwing spears at them.

"A little help here guy," came the pained voice of Usopp as they were flying away causing everyone to look for him only to not see him anywhere.

"Huh? Where are you Usopp?" Asked Sanji as he looked around.

"Down here," came his pained voice once again causing everyone to look down and see their poor sniper being crushed under Chopper's sled. Vivi and Mikita immediately went down and pulled Usopp off the sled while Luffy just chuckled and shook his head. He then turned towards his sh.i.p.s new doctor only to see the little blue nose reindeer standing on the cloud looking at the slowly shrinking castle in the distance with a sad expression on his face. Luffy then put his hand on Chopper's head, causing the little reindeer to look up at him with tears building up in his eyes. Luffy then gave him a warm smile as the crew looked on with an equally warm smile. Suddenly everyone's warm smiles turned a panic as the sound of cannon fire filled the air causing Luffy's face to take on a serious look.

"Are those cannon fire?" asked Gem as he looked around to see where they are coming from.

"It's coming from the castle," Usopp said while looking at the fading castle in the distance.

"They're not shooting at us are they?" Vivi asked in a scared voice.

"No, we could have seen explosions if they were," Gem replied coolly. Luffy then slowed the cloud down before bringing it to a full stop as he tried to figure out what was going on.

'Are they under attack?' Luffy asked himself. The country was now under his protection so if they were under attack he would need to go help. 'Or is that old coot attacking us?' he thought to himself as he looked around. Then suddenly the cannon fire stopped and ten seconds later a bright pink light appeared in the skies above the castle causing everyone eyes to widen. The next thing everyone saw was a pink smoke light surround the Drum Rockies causing Luffy's serious expression to change into a smirk before he looked over at Chopper and only to see the little reindeer staring up at the pink smoke with tears in his eyes.

"A fitting send-off don't you think?" Luffy said to the little reindeer as pink snow began to fill from the sky. Chopper couldn't contain it anymore, he looked up at the pink snow and let out a cry.

"DOCTORRRRRR!" he screamed with tears in his eyes.

"It-it's beautiful," Nojiko said as she stretched out her hand and caught a pink snowflake.

"Indeed," Johnny said as he and Yosaku stared up at the sky.

"It's like a bunch of cherry blossoms," Zoro said from his position sitting on the cloud. Luffy then commanded the cloud to continue its way towards the ship. After flying for another five minutes the crew finally arrived above the ship docked in the waterway. The cloud lowered itself on the main deck of the ship allowing everyone to get off. Johnny and Yosaku helped Chopper take his sled off the cloud and detach it from him before the little reindeer walked to the side of the ship and stared up at the Drum Rockies admiring the beautiful scene before him.

'Your dream came true, Doctor,' Chopper thought as he caught a snowflake. 'Now I am going to make my dream come through,' he thought with conviction. Deciding the leave the little reindeer to himself for a while Luffy looked to his crew and gave out orders.

"Prepare to set sail!" Luffy yelled out in a commanding tone as he walked up to the upper deck where his thundercloud was waiting for him transformed into a throne after everyone got off. He sat down on his throne and took out a glass and poured himself some whiskey before he gave out some more orders. "Hoist the anchor!" he yelled causing Johnny and Yosaku to run towards the front of the ship and raise the anchor. "Now, release the sails!" he said causing Usopp and Gem to untie the sails causing it to catch the wind. As the sails caught the wind the ship began moving forward sailing out of the waterway leaving the first island under Luffy's control behind. As they were sailing away Sanji, Zoro, Vivi, and Nami came walking towards Luffy.

"Should I beginning preparing dinner?" Sanji asked causing Luffy to nod his head before he spoke.

"Prepare a feast, let's welcome our little doctor the right way," Luffy said causing all of them to smile.

"As you wish, captain," Sanji said before he walked off to the kitchen. Nami was about to speak next but a scream from Chopper interrupted her causing everyone to look in the direction of Chopper with a panic look on their face and causing Luffy to immediately teleport to Chopper location with a panic look on his face as well.

"What's wrong? Who I got to kill?" Luffy asked as he appeared next to Chopper while looking around for an enemy.

"What? No, I was in such a hurry I left my medical bag behind," he said in a worried voice. Luffy heard that and relaxed his guard and was about to speak but Nami spoke before he could.

"Your bag?" she asked while looking down at Chopper. "But isn't this it?" she asked holding up a little blue bag pack.

"Huh? That is my bag, how did you get it?" Chopper asked as he took the bag from Nami.

"I found it in the back of the sled," Nami replied.

"huh? how is that?" Chopper asked with a confused look on his face.

"What do you mean?" Nami asked while looking at Chopper. "Weren't you the one who packed the sled?" she asked. Chopper looked up at her and thought about it for a second before his eyes began to tear up causing Luffy to chuckle softly.

"Guess the old lady doesn't like long goodbyes," he said before he began walking back to the upper deck with a smile on his face.

"Nami!" Luffy yelled while walking up the stairs getting her attention. "Set our course...to Alabasta!" he said before sitting down on his throne with a glass of whiskey in his hand and his vice-captain standing off to his right with his three swords strapped to his waist.

"Aye aye, Captain!" Nami yelled before yelling out orders to the crew.

'Enjoy it while it last, cause your days are numbered...Crocodile,' Luffy thought to himself as he stared off into the horizon.

**CHAPTER END