“Wow, the sea looks so beautiful,” Chopper said while sitting on the railing as the Going Merry sailed towards the port town of Nanohana.

“Aren’t you glad to join us now Chopper?” Nami asked with a smile on her face.

“Mhmm,” Chopper innocently nodded much to Nami’s delight as he turned his head back towards the blue horizon.

…

Upon reaching Drum Island after they had docked their ship they were on the way to the main town when they witnessed a skirmish going on. On closer inspection, Luffy and the rest realised that a group of men with weapons were surrounding a wounded old lady along with her pet who was standing in between the men and the old lady with a furious expression.

Seeing such an unjust fight Luffy too became furious and decide to give them a hand. Usopp and Sanji had long realised that the two victims in question were Dr Kureha and Chopper so they readily supported the idea thereby saving the two of them.

After hearing them out they soon came to realize about the situation of the town that was now under the control of the former king who had earlier fled, Wapol. Luffy and the rest became especially enraged when they heard that the two of them were only attacked because they were doctors and learnt the situation of doctors on the island.

With the active support from Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Nami, Luffy was able to able to easily eradicate Wapol’s presence from the island and during the fight, infected by Luffy’s spirits Chopper developed a fondness towards the idea of accompanying them in their journey.

Long story short, Dr Kureha chased him out of her home and just like in the original scene, cherry blossom rained on the ice-laden peaks of the drum island. Blossoming the moods of all the inhabitants while fulfilling the lifelong mission of Chopper’s father-like figure, Dr Hiriluk.

…

Thanks to battle experience gained in dealing with Wapol every one of them levelled up in terms of strength. Nami became more and more familiar with handling her devil fruit powers as she started experimenting by herself whenever she used to get free.

Sanji too along with following his rigorous schedule of preparing meals for his voracious crew mates made enough time for himself to practice his observation Haki by following the important points given to him by Zoro.

As for Usopp, he’s been trying to master the method he had gained insights on during his encounter with Robin and has been making steady progress with it. No one on the ship had enough mastery in observation Haki as Usopp did and this was providing him with great help in trying to learn new things with his ability.

It had only been for a few seconds but he had felt that he had made his body separate from nature. If someone who was well versed with observation Haki was present to witness this then they would have been shocked to see that Usopp’s aura had suddenly disappeared. If they didn’t look directly at his body then they won’t be able to discover it.

Seeing everyone focusing so much on their Haki training Luffy begrudgingly forced himself to practice as no one wanted to have fun with him.

…

“All current missions to be….aborted…return….Alabasta….start….initiating plan…”

Smoker, Tashigi along with a marine telecom decrypter were listening to a conversation that was currently going on between two unknown groups with a serious expression.

As they kept on listening, their face turned more and more solemn. When the conversation was finally over the marine decrypter looked at Smoker and asked in a wary tone, “Sir…what should we do?”

Exhaling clouds of smoke Smoker said, “Hmmm…looks like these Baroque work guys have a hand in the rebellion that’s going on in that kingdom,”

“Do you have any idea who these guys are Sir?” Tashigi asked.

“I don’t have any proof, but what my gut says is that all this definitely has that Shichibukai’s hand in it… Set Sail towards Alabasta. Delivering these prisoners can wait.” Smoker gave his orders.

In the ship’s cellar outside a barred room, a marine was watching over two prisoners who were separated by a fence between them. The two prisoners were Buggy and Alvida. Both their faces had become dull by this time as the ship sailed closer and closer towards impel down.

The marine who was guarding them continued to tell them the horrific tails about Impel down which he had known in order to laugh at their frightened expressions. That was his only means of entertainment in this dark and dingy cellar. After a while Buggy and Alvida became immune to his words and thus the marine stopped interacting with them in a sour mood much to their delight.

“Duty Change!” A voice sounded from above and a new marine was sent downwards to the cellar as the former marine handed over his duty to a new one.

Observing this new marine who had been appointed for the duty both Buggy and Alvida were a bit surprised as the face was very familiar to them.

After making sure that there were only the three of them in the cellar the marine removed his hat and turned towards Buggy as he said, “Captain Buggy, I’m relieved to see that you’re alright,”

“Cabaji! So, it’s you! How did you escape?” Buggy couldn’t help but voice out his doubts.

“It’s too long a story Captain. I can’t stay here for long so I’m going to quickly brief you about our plan. The ship has changed its course and is currently heading towards Alabasta according to my trusted source.” With that said he threw a key towards Buggy and one towards Alvida.

“Remember, when the ship docks at a port we’ll be assembling at the ship’s deck to fight our way out,” Cabaji said and after answering all the queries that Buggy and Alvida had for the next hour and a half he was changed with someone else.

A/N: Now that I've satiated your hunger, it is time for me to satiate the hunger of my patrons...adios