Thunder Demon Luffy's

Chapter 71's

It has been two hours since Luffy, Sanji, and Nojiko arrived at the top of the Drum Rockies with the ailing Nami to find a doctor who can cure her. They had been waiting for the doctor for two hours, but he had yet to show up as well.

Luffy was still standing outside, in the snow with his eyes closed waiting for the doctor to return to his castle. He used haki observation to try and sense if anyone had approached the castle for the past two hours. He could not sense anyone coming to the castle, just some arctic creatures living in the forest beneath the mountain.

"Finally," Luffy said as he opened his eyes and looked to the left with narrowed eyes. Luffy stared left for about five minutes before two figures were seen walking through the snow towards him. One of the figures looked like a human while the other was a kind of creature walking on four legs.

As they got closer, Luffy was able to see the two figures more clearly, one was a woman with a bottle of wine in her hand, and the other is a deer with a blue nose and a red hat.

"Geez, it looks like we have a guest" said the woman. The deer looked at Luffy with narrowed eyes and growled at him causing Luffy to raise an eyebrow at him before he ignored him and turned his attention to the woman.

"Are you Dr. Kureha?" Luffy asked as he stopped leaning on the pillar and cleared the snow from himself.

"That's me, but you can call me Doctorine, did you come here for the secret of my youth?" he asked with a smile.

"No, I brought my friend who was suffering from a terrible illness," Luffy said as he stood in front of the two men.

"That's it," he said as he walked forward. "I'm not cheap, you know," he said with a grin.

"Money is not a problem" Luffy replied in a normal monotonous voice. "Save my friend" he said, causing him to smile a little.

"Then show the way of the young man" he said with his arms outstretched. Luffy nodded before turning around and leading them into the castle. "Seeing from your jolly roger in your coat, you're a pirate?" Kureha asked as she stared at the monstrous looking jolly roger in Luffy's coat.

"That's right," Luffy replied as they climbed the stairs. When they reached the room where Nami was, Luffy opened the door and led them in. When they get there, they see Sanji leaning against the wall while smoking, while Nojiko smokes a wet washcloth over his sister's forehead.

"The doctor came," said Luffy as he stepped aside letting the doctor walk towards Nami's bed.

"Now what do we have here?" she asked as she pressed her finger against Nami's forehead for a few seconds before she spoke again. "Temperature 107, this is serious," he said causing the pirates' third eye to widen, in shock at what they had just seen.

"He's just ..." Sanji whispered in surprise.

"Touching his forehead .." said Luffy equally surprised.

"And knowing the temperature ..." Nojiko.

"Excellent," said the three of them simultaneously.

"He also had a rash on his stomach, too" Luffy said causing the doctor to pull the sheets and remove Nami's shirt to look at the rash Luffy was talking about.

"Geez, now this is something I haven't seen in a long time" he said before turning to the crew and speaking. "Where are you guys wandering around, on a prehistoric island?" he asked sarcasticly, not really expecting an answer, but he was completely shocked when he saw the three pirates laughing nervously.

"Well .. you know there's this island called Little Garden .. and it's stuck in dinosaur times" Luffy said, chuckling. "Do you know why?" Luffy then asked in a more serious voice.

"Yes, right, he was bitten by an insect called The Kestia. Toxic ticks that thrive in forests with high heat and humidity" he said, surprised them all. "When it bites you, it will inject a type of bacteria into your body. These bacteria were inactive for five days causing intense pain, high fever, mild carditis, and arthritis" he said, causing Luffy's eyes to widen in shock.

"Given the development of the infection and the site of infection, I can say he has been infected for three days now," he said, surprising the crew once again.

"you know all that just by looking at it !?" Sanji and Nojiko yell /question while Luffy gaping.

"The pain will go away in about two days" said Dr. Kureha surprised them once again.

"You mean he'll be pain-free in two days?" Luffy asked in surprise.

"That's right because in two days he will die," Kureha said causing all their eyes to widen for the entire time.

"you can treat it, can't you?" Sanji asked hoping the doctor would answer yes.

"Even though I have heard that Kestia became extinct about 100 years ago I still keep the antibiotics just in case. So, yes, I can treat it," he said, causing the three crew members to smile. "Now, get out there and let's get to work" said the doctor, causing Luffy to raise his eyebrows in confusion.

"We?" he asked with a confused look on his face. Kureha turned her head towards him before she spoke.

"Yes we, Chopper and I" he said, pointing at the deer, causing the three of them to look at the deer and their eyes to widen.

The ones standing there were no longer the deer Luffy first saw, the deer that walked on 4 feet, next to them now was a child-tall human/deer hybrid, wearing a high red hat with medical symbols on it.

"Interesting, he's either a member of the Mink tribe or he's a devill fruit eater," Luffy commented as he leaned over and looked towards the deer and began to study it. "So, which one are you?" Luffy asked causing the poor deer to jump in fright and start hiding behind the door frame, or at least trying to hide.

The deer positioned its entire body in everyone's view while only half of its face was hidden causing Luffy to laugh. "I think we'll talk about it later," Luffy said as he stood up again.

"Is he a doctor?" Nojiko asked Dr. Kureha with curiosity.

"He was my student, I taught him everything I knew about medicine," he said proudly with a smile. "Now, get out so we can work!" he yells as he punches Sanji in the face and sends him flying to Luffy and sends the two of them out the door.

Nojiko rushed out of the door in hopes of avoiding being kicked out.

"Two rangas," Luffy said as he got up from the ground and sat down on the stairs before he took out a glass and poured himself a drink. "Gosh, what a tiring day," he said before sipping whiskey.

"At least we get what Nami needs," Sanji said as he walked up and sat two stairs under Luffy while Nojiko took a seat next to Luffy.

"By the way, captain," Sanji said, drawing Luffy's attention. "When we were there, you mentioned something called the Mink tribe, what was that?" Sanji asked causing Nojiko to stare at Luffy with curiosity as well.

"The Mink tribe is a different race or type of species that exists in the world, like how fishmen are different species" Luffy said before he sipped his drink.

"They are like humans with animal body features where each individual has certain animal features," he said causing two of his crew members to look at him in surprise.

"Wow, I've never heard of them before," Sanji said in surprise.

"They're mostly an isolated tribe with only a few people ever leaving their residence," Luffy said causing the two of them to nod their heads.

"That explains a lot of things" Nojiko said. Luffy then got up and started walking down the stairs.

"I'm going to look for air, why don't you find a warm place" he said as he continued down the stairs. He walked out of the front door and stood in the snow before he looked up at the sky and took a deep breath.

He then began to look around the exterior of the castle, admiring its scale and beauty when something caught his attention. Flying over one of the towers is a pirate flag.

It was a skull and bone flag crossed with pink cherry blossom petals around it, Luffy looked at it and smiled to himself.

She then goes back inside to check and see if the doctor is done with Nami. As he walked up the stairs, he saw standing on the stairs was a small deer staring at him with a gaze of pure terror.

As Luffy got closer, the deer began to retreat slowly in fear, which confused Luffy. When he reached the top of the stairs, Luffy sat with his back to the deer.

'If he's too afraid to talk maybe it's best to try not to force him, ' Luffy thought as he sat there, on the snow-covered staircase alone, with a terrified reindeer behind him. After sitting quietly there for about five minutes, Chopper finally spoke.

"Are you really a pirate?" he asked in a cautious voice which caused Luffy to turn his head towards him with a smile before he replied.

"That's right," he replied with a warm smile. "There is nothing better than the life of a pirate. There are no rules, no matter what, just the high seas, and never-ending adventures," said Luffy happily making Chopper advance a little with an expression of pure admiration on his face.

"Wow, pirates really go adventuring?" Chopper asked in a surprised tone.

"Yes, you get to see the most amazing things and meet the most amazing people," luffy replied with a smile as he looked at the ceiling.

"Is that your flag?" Chopper asked as he pointed at Jolly Roger in Luffy's coat.

"That's right," Luffy replied with a smile.

"That looks different from the rest" Chopper said as he looked at his jolly roger.

"I know, I designed it myself," Luffy replied before he extended his hand forward towards the little deer and spoke again. "Hi, I'm Luffy" he said as he waited for the deer to say something.

Chopper looked at Luffy's hand for a few minutes before he extended his hand closer in the most cautious manner and touched Luffy's hand, before he quickly retreated back in fear.

"I'm Chopper," he said shyly causing Luffy to chuckle.

"So, you're a doctor?" Luffy asked as he looked at Chopper which caused him to nod his head. "Can you tell me if my friend is going to be okay?" Luffy asked.

"The treatment he needs is given, all he needs now is rest so that the medicine can work properly" he said from his position on the wall. "It took at least three days for the bacteria to leave his body" he added, causing Luffy to nod his head slowly, knowing full well that they couldn't stay there for three days.

"So when you look at the way you're afraid of humans, I don't think you're Mink, but you're a devil fruit eater" Luffy said, looking at the little deer.

"That's right, I ate the human-human fruit," he said sadly, confirming Luffy's hypothesis and confusing him as well.

"Why do you sound so sad about it?" Luffy asked in a curious voice. The little deer stared at Luffy for a while but said nothing, which led Luffy to believe that it was a sensitive subject. Luffy then got up and leaned his elbow against the second-floor fence before he spoke.

"I also ate the devil's fruit" Luffy said to Chopper's surprise

"Thank you?" Chopper asked in surprise.

"Yes, I ate the Rumble-Rumble fruit," he said before turning around and extending his right hand with his fingers pointing down.

"I'm a lightning man" he said before a small rope made of electricity came out from his five fingers and formed a Chopper made entirely from lightning.

"Wowww," Chopper said as he stared at the electric rope that formed him in awe. "I wish I could do something like that" he said as he stared at his lightning clone.

"Sure it looks cool and stuff like that, this power isn't what it looks like" Luffy said as Chopper's lightning clone disappeared into a blue splash.

"What do you mean?" Chopper asked as he tilted his head to the side and looked at Luffy.

"I mean, there are good things and bad things about that," he said with a sigh. "I'm sure there are some things about your poor strength," he said as he saw a look of sadness flashed across Chopper's face before he looked down and nodded.

"Don't let that make you sad" Luffy said as he stood next to Chopper. "People tend to be afraid of what they don't understand" he said causing Chopper's head to lift and stare at him with eyes as big as a dinner plate.

"W-how did you know?" Chopper asked with trembling. Luffy sighed and took off his straw hat and combed his hair with his finger before replying.

"Let's just say we have more in common than you think" Luffy said, closing his eyes.