Uh. That was odd.

Things hurt less. Slowly, Thomas opened his eyes. The air was chilly against his face. But the pain he was in felt lessened. And, well. He wasn't familiar with this place. It wasn't the Going Merry, nor was it the man's hut.

Slowly, he reached up, feeling his forehead to make sure that the cold feeling on his face wasn't coming from a bug. Thankfully, it was not, the moisture being clearly from warm towels.

Thomas let out a sigh of relief. If he had been in his right mind, he would have thrown Nathan. He didn't mean any disrespect toward his crewmate, but Thomas didn't like bugs.

Really, really didn't like bugs.

Thomas pushed up, looking around the room. It was spacious, somewhat chilly. But the stonework made it clear, as did the view out the window, make the nature of the structure clear.

It was a castle.

Luffy had done it. Thomas knew he shouldn't have expected anything less.

Or this could be the afterlife. The fuzzy thing standing in the door frame made it hard to tell.

Wait, fuzzy thing?

Thomas turned his head, doing his best to suppress his surprise. It looked like a deer of some kind, with a blue nose. Yet, it was wearing pink pants and a pink, tall hat, all while standing upright. Like a human.

Also, it looked as if it was trying to peek around the door frame, but doing it wrong in just about every possible way.

It was certainly one of, no, Thomas wasn't going to lie to himself. He had seen bug samurai and a cloud have an existential crisis. Among other things. This was not the strangest thing he had seen this week.

"Hello there," Thomas threw on his best smile. "Are you the one responsible for my care?"

He did his best to avoid calling it a little thing, or anything else. For all Thomas knew, this tiny deer man very well could be the one nursing him back to health. Offending it would not be wise, given his current position. Also, he had no idea where the rest of his crew was. Luffy, Sanji, and Norris had brought him up if he remembered correctly. The only reason they wouldn't be here was if a doctor had kicked them out for his sake.

Or they got injured themselves.

He almost didn't expect it to talk back. It looked more deer than human. None of the things Nathan could transform into could speak like a human. But the only thing Nathan had transformed into that looked even close to human was that one wolf-like one.

"Why does that matter, human!" The man deer spoke, almost taking Thomas by surprise. "Are you feeling better?"

While the first part was harsh, the second was considerably softer in tone. That was odd. It didn't make the question of what he was any easier. Thomas knew about some Devil Fruits giving the powers of animals. Maybe this was someone who ate the Deer-Deer Fruit?

Well, that was as good an explanation as any.

"I'm feeling much better now, thank you," Thomas smiled. "I think I'm ready to get up now."

"KAK KAK KAK KAK! I'll be the judge of that, sonny!"

Old. And young. How did someone give off both the energy of a teenager and yet a crotchety old woman at the same time? It had to be the navel piercing.

"Your temperature has stabilized, at least," the woman removed her finger from his head, taking a swig of the drink in her hand.

"Thank you. And who are you?" Thomas paused. "And the three people who brought me here? And, him?"

The deer man had seemed to have made himself scarce after the woman's arrival. An assistant of some sort?

"I'm Kureha! But you can call me your Doctor," the laugh that left her sounded like a rattle. "As for your friends? The three of them are resting in the next room. Some are more hurt than others, but they're unusually sturdy."

Thomas let out a sigh of relief. He didn't want anyone to be hurt, but everyone was alive. He'd, settle for that. Even if he found the comment about some being more hurt than others foreboding. Had they run into trouble on the way up? Okay, that was a stupid question for several reasons.

"As for Chopper?" The old woman continued, before there was a loud bang, as the door exploded open again. What Thomas saw was, beyond what he expected. Luffy was biting into the deer man, Chopper's, leg. Sanji, on the other hand, was shouting something about venison. Unlike Luffy, this was because their cook was restrained. Granted, it was the best restraint for Sanji, as attempting to escape with force meant hurting the already injured Norris, who managed to stuff the man underneath her arm.

"Captain, stop trying to eat the doctor!" The strong woman shouted as she tried to pry Luffy off Chopper. Tried, given that she was using one arm to restrain Sanji, and the other was in a sling. Not that she would have been able to do much, even with both hands. Zoro was strong enough to defeat the four of them on his own, and Luffy was stronger than that.

"I'm not food!" Suddenly, Chopper's body swelled up, expanding to the point where he was taller than even Norris was, hitting Luffy's rubber head hard enough that it stuck inside the floor for a few seconds, giving Chopper enough time to scurry off. It didn't take long for Luffy to pull his head out of the stone floor to take off in pursuit, as Norris tried fruitlessly to coral their hunger captain.

He wasn't sure about Sanji, as the man seemed to be caught between being embarrassed about being carried around like a sack, and pleased as punch that Norris was doing so, or annoyed because he should be the one carrying her.

"So rambunctious," Kureha shook her head, laughing as she did so. "I didn't think they'd be up so soon."

Her voice sounded both impressed and annoyed. "As for you!"

Suddenly, she lifted up his leg, pulling down Thomas's sock, to reveal a large red mark.

"The tick," he breathed, getting a good look at it for the first time.

"Ah, so you know the cause?" Kureha cackled again.

"We saw the tick," Thomas decided to admit. "One of our crewmates thought it could be any number of things."

"Did they, now?" Kureha stared deeply at him, ancient eyes seeming to judge him. "You're lucky you managed to hold up as long as you did. Your cook helped your blood levels well enough. I didn't think I'd see a case of Ehrlichiosis again, much less a case as bad as yours."

"You're a very lucky man. What did you do? Let it latch onto you and not remove it?" The heat the question brought to Thomas's face wasn't entirely from the remnants of the fever.

"Something like that," he muttered. He didn't want to see what it was!

"Unbelievable," Kureha pushed him down back onto the bed. "You need to stay in bed until your treatment is complete."

"Thank you, but I feel a lot better, and we're in a hurry," Thomas began. They couldn't afford to be held up much longer. Vivi's country depended on them getting back as quickly as they could. Getting Vivi back as quickly as they could. He was thankful that they diverted course to save his life, but he wasn't in danger anymore! They could keep going!

"You're being foolish. Do you want your illness to come back and kill you next time?" The woman's eyes narrowed at him. "Treatment normally takes several days. So you will stay there and take your medicine."

Several days? They couldn't wait even a few!

"Ma'am, with all due respect, we need to leave as soon as!" Thomas's words died in his throat as a scalpel appeared just inches from his throat.

"KAK KAK KAK! There are only two ways a patient leaves my care," Kureha pinned him to the bed. "Fully recovered, or dead!"

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"Where's Nathan!"

That was a question that none of them knew the answer to. As the artificial cliff of rocks collapsed, Nathan had shifted back into a human, only to begin transforming into something else as his body hit the avalanche.

From there? It had been a rough and tumble before the avalanche finally stopped, and they were able to miraculously dig their way out. It had taken some effort to wake up Usopp, but Nathan was nowhere to be found.

"He has to be buried under the snow somewhere!" Usopp shouted, digging at a random pile. The statement was true, of course. There was nowhere else Nathan could be.

But there was so much snow. Sure, he should be around where they woke up. And yet, he wasn't. Did the form he transformed into get curried further? Or was it something that sunk even deeper into the snow? It didn't look large.

Nor was that the only thought on Vivi's mind. If she had been enough to knock Nathan out mid-transformation? Then what would an avalanche be capable of? That last thought scared her. Was Nathan, dead? He couldn't be! But he was so much, softer, compared to the others. But he couldn't just die like that?

And why was she suddenly feeling even more shaking?

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Could hardly breathe. The air tasted scale. I couldn't move, struggling as even my cold body felt the chill of the snow surrounding me. I tried to push against the weight, but I couldn't. I tried to shape-shift back, to create space.

It hurt. If nobody found me, I was going to die here. It almost felt peaceful, despite my struggles. The cold felt pleasant. As if it was trying to rock me to sleep.

But I refused. I didn't want to die! I didn't want to die here! Trapped in a world that wasn't mine! Not when people were likely trying to rescue me! I had to fight! No matter what! I just. Had. To. Push!

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Why is the snow glowing!" Nami shouted as the snow began to shift more and more. There was something inside, shifting. Growing. A rainbow of colors erupted beneath the snow, emanating from something beneath their feet. The small body began to expand outwards, body pushing aside the snow. Its neck and tail became longer and longer, until it burst free from its prison. For a moment, it continued to flicker, before the light faded away.

In its place was something large. While it was smaller than some of the dinosaurs in Little Garden, its body plan was the same. A long neck reached into the sky, thin flaps flickering in the fading light, almost like an aurora. Its body was two different shades of blue, covering its entire body from head to toe. Crystals ran down its body, its long tail swaying back and forth.

"Nathan, is that you?" Usopp was looking up at it, as it slowly began to push its way out of the snow. It had to be Nathan! Who else could it have been? But it was easy to see why Usopp asked the question.

"Aurorus!" It declared with a nod, emerging fully from the mount of snow, shaking what remained off its body. Vivi smiled, tears in her eyes as she looked up at it. Nami was also smiling, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Well, that was something."

Everyone turned at the voice, coming off Nathan's back.

"Zoro?" The three of them shouted at once, as the look on Nathan's face could only be that of pure confusion.

"How did you guys even get here?" Zoro looked at them, without even wearing a shirt despite the cold.

"We should be asking you the same thing!"

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"Come on, at least give me your shoe! I'm freezing back here!"

To be fair, I imagine all four of them were cold. Aurorus was pretty damn cold as far as ice-types went. It wasn't the biggest either, but at least I could carry the lot of them semi-comfortably. Even if Usopp was trying to scramble up my neck as Zoro more or less tried to make a grab at him.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

On one hand, Zoro only had himself to blame for this, to an extent. Seriously, who in their right mind thinks swimming in sub-zero temperatures was a good idea? Secondly, how did he end up getting so off course that he got caught up in an avalanche? And if he was here, who was guarding the ship? But it wasn't as if I felt bad for him.

But it wasn't like I could easily shift back, and lend him a coat. Not with four people on my back. Well, they weren't all on my back. Nami was closer to my head, trying to help us navigate back to something that resembled civilization. She was the most qualified. I knew for a fact all I'd do was wander around, hopelessly lost.

Really, all I was thankful for was that we all survived that. I hoped the town we were trying to visit made it out unharmed, but I doubt it.

How had that even happened? Avalanches were unpleasant things, but they didn't happen without reason. Earthquakes were common, as was accumulation. But, that raised the question of this island being anywhere near a fault line? The volcanic activity on Little Garden could suggest such was possible, but that could just as equally be a hot spot. The mountains suggested that yes, there was some tectonic activity in the past, and the stress from that was just as good as any other cause.

But tectonic activity wasn't a great fit, either. Yes, you needed it to get mountains, most of the time. They required a mixture of things, with different types of mountain ranges being the result of different interactions based on how dense those continental plates were. But an active mountain range did not produce the pillars that emerged from the mountain tops. You'd have to get centuries, millennia, if not more of weathering to get such structures.

Yes, Vivi had stated that the grand line was weird, and I had seen it firsthand. We had gone from an arid island, to a jungle, to a winter wonderland, without much north-south shift. Sure, islands were supposed to have their weather patterns, but that was still weird! Well beyond what should be considered a normal amount of weirdness!

"You're going to need to turn east. We should be getting close now," Nami said as I began to turn. "East! I said east, not west!"

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This looked familiar. Sure, the town was mostly buried in snow, but it was almost unmistakable. Bighorn. They'd been hit too.

But that wasn't the biggest concern. There were men arguing. Some held guns. Some of them had a familiar uniform. These were, Wapo's men? Slowly, everyone else filtered off my back, approaching the group. For myself? My eyes narrowed. I would rather stay transformed for this. Just in case that things turned ugly. My presence was putting some of them on edge.

"The avalanche buried Mr. Dalton!" One of the villagers shouted. "But those men won't let us dig him out!"

My eyes narrowed even more, an anger beginning to burn in my heart. Dalton had been hurt. Injured. He went off on his own to help his people and got hurt for it. We could have helped him. We should have been able to help him. He shouldn't have needed to fight against them alone.

One of Wapo's men began to shout. I didn't care. He looked like the leader of this little group.

"Why is it suddenly getting colder?" I heard Usopp ask the question. But the answer was obvious.

Me.

A pale blue orb had appeared in my mouth, before erupting, looking like cold lightning, arcing towards the man. He barely had enough time to look up as the beam crashed home, causing a blue explosion to erupt. When the cloud faded, the man stood there. Frozen. Everyone looked at me, then to the man, then back to me.

"I was going to take his shirt!" Zoro shouted, giving me a look that I didn't think anyone else had the courage to give me.

But I was a bit beyond the point of caring. The glare I sent Wapo's men should have been abundantly clear. They either stand aside.

Or I start freezing.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

This place was more barn than a castle. Thomas was quick to realize that. After yet another failed attempt at convincing Kureha, who frankly could have fit onto the crew in his opinion, Luffy and Sanji ran off after catching sight of the deer. Thankfully, he was glad that for once, Luffy was running into a recruitment brick wall. He'd heard about how Luffy had managed to get everyone else to join the crew.

How was it that Nathan, of all people, whose entire motivation for joining the crew was that Luffy was nice to a whale, had the most normal recruitment?

Still, the woman was a monster, and she easily could have had a place on the crew. As terrifying as having someone on the crew who was what Nami would be like when older. She knew her craft well, and she didn't take anyone's nonsense. A competence that any crew on the Grand Line would count themselves lucky to have. And as much as he would appreciate yet another voice of tentative sanity on the crew, doubling up on Nami and her temper was not what he viewed as a good time.

Norris had to lay back down too. Apparently, just getting her cost her a large number of broken and cracked bones, including one of her arms. Which, made more of a case for a longer stay. Norris wasn't the strongest among them. Even among the numbers. And she certainly wasn't as strong as Zoro or Luffy. Sanji was probably stronger too. Nathan was where the toss-up began.

But she had been training hard ever since her loss to Zoro. And while catching up to that monster would be difficult, she had a far better chance of closing that distance than he did.

The cold air caused him to shutter. Slowly, he began to pick himself up. It wouldn't take much to get the door closed.

"You need to stay in bed!" Thomas's head tuned, just as his feet were about to touch the floor. "You're still sick."

"But I feel much better though!" Thomas smiled, doing his best to strangle the cough building up in his throat. "But thank you for taking care of me."

Kureha may have been the one in charge, but it was clear the deer man was helping. How much? Thomas didn't know, but every little bit was helpful and appreciated.

"I can't accept thanks from a human!" Despite Chopper's words, he was laughing and smiling, seemingly the happiest Thomas had seen him.

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't get thanks anyway," Thomas countered. Thanks for helping someone was just that. It didn't matter if one wanted to accept it or not, or if they felt like they could accept it. Thanks needed to be given in situations like this.

"So, you're pirates?" Chopper had paused for a moment after Thomas had spoken, before getting closer.

"It's complicated," Thomas admitted. He doubted that Kureha would care all that much. So long as they had the funds to pay. "But I'm working with them toward a common goal."

Why did it hurt so much to admit that? He planned to stay in Alabasta, one way or another. To help pay Vivi back for all the damage he was unintentionally doing to her country. Had Luffy already gotten so far under his skin?

Or was it simply because he could already tell that they all considered him, Vivi, and Norris as part of their number? No questions asked, no, well, Nathan had some degree of animosity before Whiskey Peak, but that had faded by afterward.

"Norris and I are working with Vivi, a," Thomas paused. He probably shouldn't out her as a Princess. Not here. Even if Crocodile didn't have anyone here who could take advantage of that knowledge, it would be good to be in practice once they arrived at Alabasta. Screaming out Vivi's identity was going to draw out trouble. "Important person we are escorting. Luffy and Sanji are pirates, though most of the others aren't present."

"They have a pirate flag?" Chopper asked.

"The Going Merry does," Thomas nodded. He was surprised such a small ship had been able to handle the Grand Line so well. Nathan had called her a fighting ship on more than one occasion. He hadn't explained the nickname, but it seemed to have stuck. But what was with all these questions? It was almost like. "Are you curious about pirates?"

"Of course not!" Chopper shouted, recoiling back in surprise as Thomas rubbed his ears. If nothing else Chopper was certainly loud enough to be one of them, that was certain.

On one hand, this wasn't his wheelhouse. That was Luffy's call when it came to recruitment. He didn't even plan to stay long-term! But at the same time? Chopper was trained. He was more than likely a doctor. If he were to join, they'd be able to get to Alabasta even faster.

"It isn't exactly my place to make the offer, but if you're interested, I'm pretty sure Luffy would be happy if you joined the crew," he had to phrase it carefully, to make sure he didn't make it sound like Luffy wanted to eat him. More. Wanted to eat him more.

"Fool! I'm a reindeer! I can't live with humans!" Chopper shouted at him. "Beside's, doesn't have I look scare you?"

Thomas blinked. Honestly? A week ago, he would have likely been very freaked out by this whole affair. But the month prior, he got slapped around by various aquatic animals. And, well, the last week? He could not describe how just how weird his life was at this point. He was working under a man whose Devil Fruit made him rubber, he'd watched one of the strongest people he knew get defeated easily. Watched two much stronger number agents get knocked unconscious. Twice, and another pair even stronger than them was defeated. He'd met a chief who only fought with his feet, a man who fought with a sword in his mouth, and a woman who could predict the weather with the ease of someone breathing.

"You aren't even the scariest thing I've seen in the past three days, much less the past week," Thomas said. "What anyone on this crew has seen in the past week."

And frankly, given how they were going up against a warlord of the sea in the near future, not even the scariest thing they'd see in the next week, either.

"I'm a reindeer that walks on two legs! And I can talk!" Chopper's voice was faint, almost as if he didn't believe him. "And I have a blue nose."

So he did. That was a bit weird, but it wasn't exactly scary, either.

"I'm pretty sure Nathan could transform into something like a deer if I asked him to," Thomas grinned slightly. He'd be surprised if Nathan couldn't. He'd managed to sneak a peak at the tome that Nathan was writing down information in. Not the one about rocks. That one confused him, and it was almost as if Nathan required an entire bucket of string.

"Who's Nathan?" Chopper looked at him. "And why can he change into something like a deer?" Sadly, Chopper didn't have long to ponder as the doors burst open, sending the young deer man running off as Luffy and Sanji continued their pursuit. Before Thomas could even raise his voice in protest, the three of them had already vacated the room.

"Those two brats can move fast when they want to," Kureha sat down, not sounding as out of breath as a woman of her age should. How long had she been chasing the two of them with knives? "You disappoint me though. I leave you alone for a minute and you already try to snatch up my reindeer."

"KAK KAK KAK KAK!" The woman let out her signature laugh as Thomas sputtered, trying to come up with a way to deflect around the topic of conversation. "If you want him, you can have him. But do you really think you folks can heal the scars on his heart?"