Summary: Enter Usopp, Kaya, and some pirates!

Warning! Chapters 11 & 12 were posted back to back! Make sure you don't miss chapter 11!

Chapter 12: Bounties and Beauties

"Nami! Over here!"

Luffy waved from the café table halfway down Main Street of Orange Town as he spotted the distinctive red hair weaving through the crowd. Since Luffy had originally been intending to be away from Dawn Island for a few weeks, he and his new crewmates had taken only a few days to settle Zoro and Kuina in. Both of them were chomping at the bit to start seeing where they stood compared to the rest of the East Blue, and Luffy had a good target to point them at anyway. Thanks, as it happened, to Nami. Who looked curiously at his two companions as she slid into the seat across from him.

"Luffy. I take it these two are the partners you said would be helping? I have to admit I thought you were crazy when you asked me to find Kuro. But if they are as good as you are…"

Luffy grinned and gestured to his companions, indicating Kuina first.

"Nami, this is Kuina, she's honestly the best swordsman among the three of us. She only losses out to me in a pure fight because I have a few advantages she doesn't. Even then, she's a difficult fight for me."

He waved at Zoro next, who was looking a little annoyed at the comment about Kuina being the best…even if he couldn't exactly argue with it. He still hasn't actually managed to beat her, though he had come close a few dozen times over the years.

"And this is Zoro! He's got an interesting style, unique like my own, that is seriously hard for people to beat. Like Kunia, he'd good enough to give me a serious fight. Or give her one, for that matter."

Shifting to an expansive open-arms gesture in Nami's direction, Luffy continued.

"Guys, this is Nami! The best navigator you'll likely ever meet, as well as a great source of information on where various pirates like to hang out in the East Blue. She's not up to our level as a fighter, but she's not helpless either, being quite skilled with a staff. Given the other skills she brings to helping us actually track our targets in the first place, we'll be giving her an equal cut of the bounties and ship sales."

Nami tried not to look surprised at that, clearly having expected her cut to be reduced with more people. She looked like she wanted to argue for more, even so, but bit back the impulse. She already knew Luffy was being fair…and even at an equal cut it was no small amount. Kuro alone was worth 18 million, with the rest of his crew being worth another 14. That meant she was looking at 8 million exclusive of anything else. If they managed to take his ship, plus any treasure he had, it could easily be 10 million or more. A serious boost towards the amount she needed to pay off Arlong.

Kuina and Zoro shrugged it off, having already discussed it with Luffy. In point of fact, they would actually only be taking 20 percent cuts each, with the remaining five percent from each going into the fund for the ship still being built. Luffy himself would be adding 15 percent of his own quarter to that same fund…but then, it was going to be his ship. The relatively token amount the other two were putting in was merely their own way of indicating they were serious about being part of his crew in the long run.

"Well, I'll trust your judgement, Luffy." Despite saying that, Nami seemed pleased with what she was seeing from the other two, smiling as she continued. "As for a location, Kuro has been seen near the Gecko Islands, which is why I wanted to meet here. He's believed to be looking to pick off ships traveling the route between the Organ and Gecko islands."

Luffy nodded at that, even as he wanted to narrow his eyes. He'd been surprised to realize that Kuro was still active. Not too surprised, given that he'd already changed some major events and he'd noticed that some things just flat out weren't the same even before he'd started mucking things up. This was a real, living world, not a story. Yet, the fact Kuro was hovering near the Gecko islands meant that some things were likely the same. He might well be preparing to fake his death and head to Syrup village. If that was the case, it was all the more reason to eliminate him now. And to possibly visit Syrup afterward, as well. Usopp and Kaya were both people whose measure he wanted to take.

"Excellent. We'll run the route between here and…let's say Syrup Village. There's a remote seat for a fairly wealthy family there that he might be thinking of targeting. If we can get within a few leagues of him, I should be able to pick up his ship with Observation. Taking him at sea would be ideal, as there's less chance of him doing a runner."

All three of his companions nodded, even if Nami looked a little worried about the idea. Understandable, given that his catamaran wasn't armed. But, then, he had no intention of taking the Black Cat Pirates in daylight. And even if they did, he was confident in his ability to handle cannon balls at this point. Kuina could probably redirect them as well, with Wado Ichimonji. Though none of Zoro's current blades were up to that sort of strain without Haki, and he couldn't completely coat his blades with armament just yet. At least he'd let Luffy replace the trash swords he'd been using with a set Luffy forged of Wootz steel for him. They were no Meito blades, but they were leagues better than the generic trash Zoro had possessed before…

... ...

Luffy wasn't sure if he was more pleased or worried with how well Nami and Kuina were getting along. Kuina had been lacking female friends for a long time, basically her entire life, and had surprised both him and Zoro by eating up certain bits of 'girl talk' with Nami. It might not have worked out so well if Nami herself wasn't mostly a tomboy. But, as it was, she was able to connect to Kuina and enflame previously unknown interests that...probably boded well for Zoro? Even if he was clearly disturbed by some of them for now. I mean, he certainly hadn't protested Kuina's change of clothes already. So, a Nami-influenced wardrobe would probably be of considerable interest to the hormonal teen trapped somewhere under Zoro's love of swords.

Honestly, Luffy was just worried that either Zoro might kill him for seeing Kuina in such a wardrobe, or that a few of Nami's less admirable traits might infect Kuina. He didn't think that was very likely. But, then, he hadn't missed a certain spark of mischief igniting in the swordswoman's eyes as she chatted with Nami. Hopefully, whatever that spark meant would be firmly aimed as Zoro. In the meantime, Luffy at least had the excuse of meditating to extend his Observation range, which let him pretend to ignore the snippets of their conversation he did pick up. The fact his cross-legged pose at the front of the ship also hid the boner his treasonous body had popped when he caught entirely too much discussion about a wide range of feminine undergarments and where Nami had found the best ones was, in fact, also a plus.

Thankfully for his sanity, something entered his range a moment later. He didn't speak up just yet, trying to puzzle out what he was sensing…only for his mind to finally sort it out and harden with anger. He stood abruptly, drawing attention to himself in the process, and barked out an order.

"Nami! Heading Up 23 Degrees! Absolute best speed you can get us!"

There was only a tiny hesitation before Nami began barking her own orders, and Luffy immediately helped direct Kuina and Zoro on to how to obey them. The two of them had only begun to properly learn sailing terms, but both had the brute strength to be useful as Nami adjusted their barring, Luffy calling minor corrections via what he sensed of the distant ships. Which is the other thing he quickly cleared up as the catamaran raced up to its full speed.

"We're heading into an emergency! Pirates, which I assume are the Black Cats, are firing on a Merchant Vessel which is trying to flee. We're cutting the angle on the fight, but we're likely to get there a minute or two after the Pirates have already boarded. Upside, the Merchant Vessel is armed and there will likely be fighting on deck, which means the Pirates are unlikely to notice us until it's too late. Downside, we'll be heading into an active fight. Check your targets, make sure to identify yourself if you need to, and don't hesitate to finish your targets. I know that's a big ask for you two, Zoro, Kuina. But we don't have time to be as gentle as I normally would be."

Both of them were grim faced but clear-eyed, if a little pale. They'd understood from the start what they were getting into with this profession. Both nodded acknowledgment, even as they did their best to contribute to the sail rigging. Which was the best he could ask for. Even with the other ships moving toward them, there was a full twenty minutes of tense silence, broken only by Luffy continuing to shout out minor corrections based on evasive maneuvers taken by the fleeing merchant ship. That ship actually did amazingly well for itself…and the reason why became clear as it finally came into view. It wasn't a Merchant Vessel at all. Instead, it was a Naval Auxiliary. A Marine supply ship that was likely ferrying powder, ammunition, and rations to a base somewhere in the East Blue. Lightly armed and unescorted here in the weakest sea, it must have made a hell of a tempting target for the Black Cats. And it was the Black Cats, the ship that was now alongside the Marine vessel being easily recognizable as theirs.

Luffy's predication that there would be fighting still going on was proven true, though it was painfully obvious the Marines were rapidly losing. Gritting his teeth and unwilling to take any longer, Luffy braced himself to use another technique he'd copied after seeing Garp use it. He still wasn't that great at it, but it would get him there quicker than anything but his Devil Fruit. He shouted a quick command to Nami.

"Angle to drop Kuina and Zoro on the Marine ship! Their Captain is still on the Pirate Vessel, I'll deal with him myself!"

He kicked off, sailing as far as he could on that Soru powered leap, then grimaced as he pumped his legs in the brutally-powerful fashion required for Geppo, the Marine technique that allowed someone to 'jump' off the air itself. The truth was that he wasn't quite strong enough to pull the move off naturally, he was using Spirit Manipulation for brief boosts to let him manage the handful of jumps needed to reach the Pirate Ship. Thankfully, those brief bursts weren't enough to leave him tired as he slammed down onto the deck of the ship. The six-shot revolver he'd worked for years to make real snapped on target the instant he touched down, a pulling of the trigger crippling one pirate, even as his jian snaked out to end the life of another. There was no time to play around, not when he knew most of that ship they were raiding was filled with merchant mariners, civilians in all but name that only technically answered to Marine command.

Of course, the fire on his revolver as it kneecapped his first target, sending that pirate screaming to the deck, attracted the complete attention of the handful of remaining crew aboard the pirate ship. Not that there were many, and not that most of them mattered. He chewed through the handful of barely-fodder-level sailors that had been left behind even as the Captain lept down from where he'd been observing the fight. Kuro was the only serious fighter present, and he engaged just as Luffy knocked the last scrub sailor unconscious. Kuro was fast, managing to dodge the revolver round that Luffy fired, if only barely, and then they were close enough to engage in a furious duel of Cat Claws against jian and pistol barrel.

An abbreviated glance with Observe had told him Kuro was level 30, and it showed. Yet, Luffy was the stronger still and that showed too as the Captain was placed quickly on the back foot. The man shifted stance, attempting to speed up in a barely-controlled parody of Soru, but Luffy knew the real deal, and so did all three of his regular sparring partners. As a result, the lack of control cost the Captain and he found himself with one hand out of position, the other blade-locked with Luffy's jian, and a revolver pressed to his forehead. Time seemed to freeze as Luffy pulled the trigger with angry eyes. No one could dodge at that range and Kuro didn't have Haki. The round, a proper bullet instead of the musket balls most of the Marines still used, ripped through the man's brain. His face, as the point of entry, was nice and intact for the bounty…but the back of his skull was a wreck as the high-caliber round ripped out the other side. Kuro fell to the deck, dead before he hit the ground less than three minutes after the fight had started.

Luffy breathed out, hardened his resolve, and breathed in again. In the next instant he disappeared into Soru again as he headed toward the sounds of fighting aboard the Naval Auxiliary vessel. There was still work to do, and if he hurried, his new partners might not have to kill too many people on their first ever bounty…

... ...

Their intervention had been a success. Most of the actual Marines aboard the supply ship had been dead or dying before Kuina and Zoro had managed to board. But, with Luffy's medical knowledge put to work, a few of them had survived. A serious-faced Nami had surprised the hell out of him by prioritizing helping him with the wounded over looting…and he hated himself for giving her too little credit. Nami cared, deeply, or she wouldn't be doing what she was in the first place. Even more, this Nami was younger and less ripped at the seams. Indeed, the embers still burning in her soul seemed to have been properly ignited by the battle, where she hadn't hesitated to join in cracking a few skulls. Pirates raiding more-or-less innocent people pushed a button or two for her, he supposed.

Kuina and Zoro had been shaky in the aftermath, of course, having made their first kills against the Black Cats' first mate and the Nyaban brothers. The effusive thanks and praise of the supply ship crew, as well as Luffy taking them aside to talk to them about it after he finished with the wounded, seemed to have mostly gotten them through it. Though they would definitely be heading back to Dawn Island and staying there for a bit, after making a stop in Syrup village to drop off Nami and possibly meet a certain potential crewmate.

That extra stop was made possible because the supply ship had called in the attack by Den Den Mushi, with a Marine vessel showing up about an hour after the battle was over. That vessel had been commanded by a decent sort, who had expressed nothing but relief that they had managed to intervene. So much so, that he'd bent his authority to the maximum to get them an extra reward, by paying them the absolute most he legally could for the Black Cats' Ship. That had resulted in a 48 million belli payday total, paid in government bank bonds that would be cashable at any of their branches.

Nami had been gleeful at the 12 million belli boost, particularly as she'd added to that by managing to raid another 3 million in treasure from the Black Cat Pirates. Kuina, Luffy, and Zoro were in no mood to argue over a split of that, leaving Nami to walk away with a cool 15 million. Luffy had been slightly alarmed to hear her mutter 'almost enough,' at that. He knew there was no way Arlong was going to actually honor his deal with her…and he didn't think they were ready to handle him and his crew yet. Still, that was a problem for Future Luffy. For the moment, he had his hands full with more immediate issues.

... ...

Nami had stayed for just two days on the Gecko islands. Luffy had been pleased to realize after the first day that she was staying to make sure Kuina was okay. Apparently, they really had hit it off, and Nami had lived a rough enough life he was unsurprised she seemed to have killed before. Whatever she said to Kuina as they talked quietly on the second day had seemed to help the older girl, even as Luffy getting Zoro thoroughly sloshed and forcing him to talk about it had seemed to help him in turn. Given his drinking habit wasn't actually a thing yet, Luffy was forced to wonder if dealing with his grief in a bottle had been where it started for Zoro, assuming he truly would have gone that way. Thankfully, he seemed far less likely to do so as he bemoaned his horrible hangover the next day, and glared at Luffy for teasing him about it.

It was on the third day, however, that one of the reasons for stopping at the village surfaced. Apparently, he really did pull that ridiculous 'Pirates are coming!' routine with a couple of village kids. Though there were several more of the kids, a good half dozen, and the villagers actually seemed to treat the whole thing as a game for the children. It was another stark reminder for Luffy that this was a real world, and that the caricature of the people he vaguely knew from Alex's memories were just that… caricatures. Garp, Makino, Ace, Sabo, Zoro and Nami. All of them were far more nuanced than he'd expected, despite repeatedly trying to force himself to assume they would be. This time, at least, he was grateful for it as Usopp spotted them and separated from the kids he'd been entertaining to stop at their table.

"Hey! You're the bounty hunters people are saying stopped the Pirates that were patrolling the waters around here, right?"

Since Nami had already left the day before, their table had a free spot and Luffy waved Usopp into the seat even as he responded with a broad grin.

"That's us! Well, most of us. Our last sometimes-member was with us, but she already headed back to her home island. She mostly helps us find our targets, as well as serves as a hell of a navigator to help us catch them."

Usopp nodded, producing a big smile of his own.

"Yeah, the super-intimidating redhead, right? I saw her haggling with one of the fishermen over using an old boat. Scary girl."

All three of them chuckled at that, knowing the fisherman had gotten off lucky that Luffy had warned Nami off from just stealing a boat. He'd told her they wouldn't debate over the Black Cats treasure if she actually paid for anything she needed in town. It had worked, but hadn't stopped her from charming and haggling her way into the lowest prices possible.

"That's Nami, yeah." Luffy gestured at himself and each of his crew. "And we're Kuina, Zoro, and Luffy. What about you, stranger?"

Usopp started, then laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Ah! Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! Captain Usopp, of the Usopp Pirates…or at least that's what the kids call me. Just Usopp to everyone else!"

Luffy grinned. This kid was definitely different than expected, in a good way. Better yet, that line was also the perfect opening.

"Oh? There's got to be a story behind that. Though I think I already know at least a part of it. There was a pretty amazing Sniper named Yasopp that stopped in my village with his crew a few years back. Wouldn't shut up about his kid, named Usopp, and from the Gecko islands he said. That you?"

Usopp looked taken aback, and Luffy could feel the surprise radiating from his two partners. He'd mentioned Shanks to them before, but never Yasopp or Usopp.

"Yeah…that's me! Haven't heard from dad in a few years, though. Not since he stopped in to visit once a few…oh, probably when he was staying at your village! He'd kept in touch and sent money back before then, and for a bit after. The last I heard though he sent a lot more and said he might not be able to contact me again, unless I set out to sea myself."

It was Luffy's turn to be surprised. Though not too much. He'd learned that little detail about him sending money back home from Yasopp, back when Yasopp had been teaching him about guns. Luffy had also encouraged him to visit his son during those lessons, and apparently the man must have listened. As for the lack of contact...

"Yeah, I'd bet I can guess at the why of that. He ever tell you whose crew he was on?"

Usopp sat up at attention, clearly very interested all of a sudden.

"No! He always said it was too dangerous."

Luffy grinned and shrugged.

"He wasn't wrong. Still, you're old enough you probably should know. If you ever want to meet him again, you're going to have to get serious about getting strong after all. Hell, you'll need to do that if you even just want to publicly tell people who he is. You'll end up dead pretty quick if you shout it out where the Marines can hear, if you can't protect yourself after you do. You sure you want to know, knowing that?"

Usopp looked shocked, and a tiny bit fearful. But, to his credit, he braced himself and nodded. Luffy took a moment to assess him, feeling a rock-solid determination under the fear via his Empathy Perk. Smiling and deciding that he could, in fact, work with this…he decided to tell.

"Yasopp is one of the senior officers of the Red Hair Pirates, the Yonko Shanks' crew. Shanks and his crew made their move to declare as a Yonko shortly after they returned to the New World from the East Blue. I'd wager a lot that knowing they were planning that was what caused your pops to cut off contact. If the World Government found out you were the son of a Yonko's officer, they'd grab you in a heartbeat to use against him."

Usopp looked…well, stunned, frankly. A dozen different expressions flitted across his face. Admiration, happiness, fear, worry, and more. Clearly, he was proud of his father, but also realized that Luffy was probably right about the danger. Eventually, however, that underlying determination rose to beat them all down.

"Well, then…I'll just have to get strong enough that I can go to him! That way, the Marines can't use me against him! I'll become a Brave Warrior of the Sea!"

He could feel Kuina and Zoro's amusement at the childish title…but it was mixed with a degree of respect as they too recognized Usopp's determination. Luffy smiled more widely than ever.

"Oh? Well, I happen to know a few tricks that might help you. And the three of us are planning to head to the Grand Line with our own ship in a couple of years. If you get strong enough, we might just have a spot for you to come along. Doubly so if you have even a fraction of your old man's skill with a gun."

Usopp looked surprised at the half-offer, but then puffed up with self-confidence.

"You bet I am! Dad sent me one of his old pistols with his last message! I'm the best marksman in the East Blue! I'll show you!"

Oh? Now that was another change. But a good one. A slingshot was no weapon to use on the Grand Line, no matter what you loaded it with. Curious, all three of them stood as Usopp lept to his feet. Time to see if he really was that good…

... ...

The last meeting Luffy had wanted to happen occurred later that day. Usopp had, in fact, manage to impress the heck out of them with his accuracy, performing numerous trick shots with ease. He'd gotten antsy after about an hour and admitted that a friend of his was due to see the town's doctor soon, saying he wanted to be there to see if there was any good news. Luffy, suspecting it was Kaya, had managed to convince Usopp to take him along by explaining he spent quite a bit of time learning from the doctor in Foosha village and might be able to help.

It was even true, though he hadn't learned directly from the man since being packed off to Dadan's Mountain Bandits. Knowing how important medicine could be at sea and having no certainty of Chopper being recruited, Luffy had gotten some lessons before that shift, though. He'd also continued consuming a lot of medical literature since then, both to improve his medical skills and because it was a great source of experience for his Int stat. It had even, unexpectedly, led to him qualifying for the Spirit Healing Perk which he'd immediately taken. Both because the effect itself was useful, and because Luffy was very interested in getting to the bottom of how Spiritual Energy worked and what it could do. He'd played with Spiritual Energy as much as possible, taking every related Perk he qualified for, as soon as he qualified for them.

All of which explained how Luffy found himself being introduced to Kaya…and trying not to gawk at just how pretty she was. Despite showing the signs of a wasting illness, this Kaya hadn't been sick nearly as long, and showed all the signs of budding beauty. Not quite up to Kuina's refined elegance or Nami's budding levels of drop-dead-sexy, Kaya was more akin to the gorgeous neighborhood girl that everyone had a crush on. Combined with kind eyes that held a fair bit of pain, she was breathtaking in a heartbreaking sort of way. Well, hopefully Luffy could do something about that.

It took a bit of doing to convince the doctor, a woman named Mereda, to allow him to examine Kaya…but the moment he did, he realized something was very wrong here. Frowning, he went through the motions of a standard medical exam for this world, even as he used his Spiritual Senses to feel out Kaya's own Spirit. Something there was…fucked up, not to put too fine a point on it. She not only had a lot more Spiritual Energy than she should, but it was spikey, like it had been disrupted and wasn't flowing through her body the way it should. He almost immediately realized it had to be what was causing the wasting sickness, along with the constant low-grade pain she was reporting. But how it had happened he had no idea. Still, there was a good chance he could do something about it. If, that was, he could bullshit them well enough. Time to get a start on that.

"Huh, I actually think I know what this is. Though I have no idea what it's doing here."

The town doctor blinked, looking at him skeptically.

"What do you mean?"

Luffy leaned back, frowning as he considered how to properly lie his ass off about this. Shrugging, he went with an excuse that would make a vague sort of sense.

"I've heard about this, but it wasn't from the village doctor I study with. It was actually from my grandfather, Monkey D. Garp."

Every set of eyes in the room fixed on him when he gave that name, all of them filled with shock. He hated trading on that name, even for this. But he needed to give himself some credibility.

"As you might expect, there's a lot of weird shit on the Grand Line, medically speaking. Bizarre diseases like Sapphire Scales, or islands out of time where ancient bacteria can cause lethal infections. This one, though, is both more common and pretty esoteric. A wasting disease that occasionally afflicts users of certain combat techniques. Obviously, that isn't the case here. But…"

Luffy hummed and moved around behind Kaya, lightly touching her at a couple of points on her back. Those points were pressure points the doctor would likely know, but it was only a cover for what he was actually doing. He channeled Spiritual Energy into Kaya in a small stream, deliberately trying to smooth out the spikey flows he'd sensed. Her breathing hitched, then she practically sobbed with relief.

"That feels…I feel better than I have in months! Even the pain is gone!"

Luffy nodded, reluctantly releasing the stream, causing Kaya to gasp and slump again.

"That hollow feeling is back, as is the pain, but…not as bad as it was?"

"Yeah, that was just a test to see if I was right about what this was. I have no idea how you contracted something normally limited to high-level Marine and Pirate combatants. But I do know how to treat it. In theory, at least. It will take some time, but there are certain medicines that can help at least relieve the symptoms in the interim."

The village doctor was looking just as relieved as confused. Frankly, Luffy got that. He wasn't lying at all when he said he wasn't sure how the heck she could have ended up with some sort of spiritual imbalance or wound. He didn't know of a way of that happening at all, save for perhaps an improper consumption of a Spirit Fruit. The bit about high level combatants was nonsense, of course. Someone hit by some sort of malicious spike of Haki might experience something like it, he supposed. But he'd never heard of such a thing. Still, he could feel that her flows were less tangled after even that short session. Given enough time and retreatment, he could probably straighten them out.

"It felt like you did something. Some sort of energy flowing into me, smoothing something…"

Luffy's eyes widened and he instinctively covered her mouth with a hand.

"You felt that?"

Kaya, looking confused and a little fearful, slowly nodded her head.

"Fuck. Um…okay. So…damn it. You can't tell anyone about this okay?"

Luffy pulled his hand away and raised it between them, letting his Fruit spark lighting between his fingers. There was a gasp from the village doctor, even as Kaya and Usopp stared in shock.

"Devil Fruit!"

Huh, apparently the doctor knew about them. Luffy met the woman's eyes and nodded.

"Yeah. Not common here in the East Blue. And the only reason I know about what she's experiencing is that it normally only happens to Devil Fruit users. Which I can tell she's not. There's a way to treat it, but I didn't expect her to be able to feel it. That's…a complication. Possibly a good one, possibly a bad one, but absolutely one that can't get out. For any of our goods. It would interest the wrong sort of people in the World Government. The mad science types that like to dissect people to figure anomalies out."

Luffy was carefully feeling out the emotions of the doctor, and nearly sighed in relief as she felt only fiercely protective of Kaya. This one was a good one, there shouldn't be any worry about the truth leaking from her.

"The good news is that I might actually be able to teach Kaya herself the method, given that she can feel it. Which would mean she could treat herself. Given that I can't exactly stay here long, and equally can't return nearly as often as would be ideal, that would be good. Heck, since the trick involved helps diagnose more mundane issues once you learn it, she could even maybe be a heck of a doctor herself someday."

Kaya perked up at that, clearly interested in the idea. Luffy smiled at that. The world could always use more healers.

"I'll give you a more through treatment today, and another tomorrow. After that I'm afraid I need to leave, but I can get you a special tea and teach you a few exercises that will both help. The tea will ease the issue and the exercises are the first step to being able to do the treatment yourself. I'll try to return to Syrup Village as quickly as a can to do a few more treatments, but there are things involving the follow up on the Black Cat Pirates I need to take care of. And I need to stop back home, too."

There was a bit of argument from Usopp that he should just stay, but Kaya put a stop to it, pointing out that Luffy was going out of his way to help them when he didn't need to at all. That shut up both Usopp and the doctor, who'd looked like she wanted to argue too. Now, he'd need to actually buy some Spirit Tea from his System Shop. He didn't actually know what was in the stuff and normally only used it to try working on his own manipulation of spirit energy. Given that it enhanced and smoothed that energy, though, he suspected diluted doses would help her symptoms, at least…

... ... ...

A/N 1: Here we go, a nice 5k+ stat block free chapters ;-).

A/N: Alright folks! That was the remainer of the original release that was held back for Patrons. But...as you might expect, the fact it's up publicly now means that there is a new Early Access release on my Patreon Page...to the tune of about 18,000 words, in point of fact! Go check it out, if you want access now and don't mind throwing a bit of support my way ;-). Note, however, that ALL of my fanfiction content is ultimately free, with nothing stuck permanently behind a paywall. So, while I deeply appreciate anyone willing to help support my writing time...if you don't want to support me, don't :-p. You'll get the content eventually, one way or another, Patrons simply get it sooner.

SPECIAL NOTE CONTIUNED!! There is still an ongoing a PUBLIC Relationship Poll for this story ongoing over on Patreon. It's available to any follower there, even ones who are 100% Free members. It's a simple thing, allowing people to weigh in on if they want to see a single-pairing or multi-pairing. If you have an opinion on that, head over to vote!