The sea was calm.
The Going Merry drifted forward under steady wind, the sails full, the sky pale blue and harmless. After Little Garden's violence, the quiet felt almost unnatural.
Nami stood near the rail, eyes fixed on the horizon.
Cassandra approached her from behind with lazy confidence.
"You've been staring at the same cloud for ten minutes."
"I'm navigating," Nami replied flatly.
"You're brooding."
"I'm not."
Cassandra grinned.
"Let's test that."
Her hands moved without warning, sliding around Nami's waist and firmly squeezing her chest from behind.
Normally a scream would have followed, with an lightning-fast staff strike and an insult sharp enough to cut steel.
Instead Cassandra got different response.
"…Don't."
The word was weak.
Barely irritated.
Cassandra froze.
That didn't sound angry, that sounded exhausted.
She released her immediately and stepped around to face her.
Nami's skin looked pale.
Her eyes unfocused.
"You're not going to hit me?" Cassandra asked quietly.
"Too tired," Nami muttered.
Cassandra's expression changed instantly.
She stepped forward and pressed her palm to Nami's forehead.
Heat flooded into her hand.
"…You're burning up."
"I'm fine," Nami insisted, but her voice lacked strength.
Nojiko turned from the helm immediately.
"What's wrong?"
"She's got a fever," Cassandra said, tone serious now. "A bad one."
Vivi hurried across the deck.
"Nami?"
Nami tried to straighten, but her knees buckled.
Sanji was there instantly, catching her, before she hit the deck.
"She's overheating," he muttered, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "And that's not normal."
Luffy walked over casually.
"She just needs sleep."
Bartolomeo nodded proudly. "Yeah! I've never gotten sick!"
"Me neither!" Luffy added.
Nojiko shot them both a look.
"This isn't about you two freaks."
Cassandra kept her hand on Nami's forehead a moment longer.
The heat wasn't just high.
It was wrong.
The Grand Line's air felt heavier lately. The climate had shifted twice since dawn.
Unpredictable.
She withdrew her hand slowly.
"This isn't a simple fever."
Nami tried to push herself upright in Sanji's arms.
"We don't have time for this. We need to keep moving."
Vivi looked conflicted.
"But—"
"No," Nami cut her off, though weakly. "Alabasta comes first."
Cassandra studied her.
Even sick, she was thinking about the mission.
That stubborn navigator had her own pride.
The wind shifted softly.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Sanji gently helped Nami sit against the mast, his usual flirtation completely gone.
"You should lie down."
"I'm not helpless," she snapped faintly.
"You're not," he said calmly. "You're sick."
Nojiko crouched beside her, pressing a cool cloth against her sister's forehead.
Her jaw was tight.
"How high?" she asked Cassandra quietly.
"High enough that I'm concerned."
That answer carried weight.
Luffy frowned slightly.
"Is it bad?"
Nojiko didn't look at him.
"Yes."
Bartolomeo shifted awkwardly.
"But… people just get better, right?"
"She could die," Nojiko said gravely.
"WWWWHHHHHAAAAAATTTT Nami will die," Luffy said in full panic mode crying, before Vivi bonked his head.
Cassandra didn't answer.
She knew next was the island Drum in the story and snatch Chopper, but she couldn´t remember why they made a stop there.
After all they had an Eternal Pose for Alabasta.
Maybe getting sick after Little Garden was just a canon event.
Grand Line illnesses weren't ordinary.
She remembered stories from her youth.
Pirates who developed fevers and were dead within days.
The Eternal Pose continued pointing straight toward Alabasta.
Forward.
Always forward.
But forward suddenly didn't feel safe.
Nami's breathing grew heavier.
She forced a smirk.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not dying."
Cassandra leaned closer.
"Don't make jokes."
Nami blinked at her.
"You're worried."
"Yes."
The answer came without hesitation.
That surprised even Nami.
The sea remained deceptively calm.
The sails creaked gently overhead.
Sanji rose slowly.
"We need to watch her temperature. If it rises more—"
"Coo! Coo!"
A familiar cry cut through the air.
A News Coo swooped down from the sky, wings beating steadily as it circled the Merry once, before landing on the railing with professional precision.
It adjusted the stack of newspapers tucked under its wing and looked at them expectantly.
Sanji stepped forward immediately.
"How much?"
The bird extended a wing.
Coins exchanged hands.
The paper rustled open.
Sanji scanned the front page casually at first, then his expression hardened.
The cigarette between his fingers burned unnoticed.
"…Vivi."
She looked up sharply.
"What is it?"
He handed her the newspaper without speaking.
The wind caught the edges of the page as she read.
Her eyes widened, then trembled.
Civil Unrest in Alabasta Escalates
Rebel Army Marches Toward Nanohana
Drought Crisis Worsens — King Accused of Negligence
Her grip tightened on the paper.
"They're moving already…" she whispered.
Nojiko looked up from beside Nami.
"How bad?"
Vivi swallowed.
"The rebels are mobilizing. Entire towns are abandoning the royal army."
Her voice cracked slightly.
"They think my father is causing the drought with his negligence."
Nami forced herself upright.
"Then we really don't have time," she said hoarsely. "We need to get there."
Sanji turned toward her sharply.
"You need to lie down."
"I'm fine," she insisted again, though sweat beaded across her forehead.
Cassandra watched the exchange quietly.
The fever had not dropped.
If anything, it had climbed.
Bartolomeo scratched the back of his head.
"So… we just go faster?"
Luffy nodded confidently.
"Yeah! We'll just beat Crocodile and fix it!"
Vivi looked torn.
Her eyes flicked between the horizon and Nami.
Between her kingdom and the woman, who had helped her escape certain death more than once.
"If the rebellion fully ignites before we arrive…" she murmured.
Nami clenched her teeth.
"Then we get there faster."
Vivi shook her head slowly.
"No."
The word fell heavy.
Everyone looked at her.
Nami blinked weakly.
"What?"
Vivi knelt in front of her.
"You're not fine."
"I said—"
"You're not."
Her voice was firm now.
"If we sail straight to Alabasta and your condition worsens…"
She hesitated.
"You might not survive the journey."
The words hit harder than any blow.
The wind seemed to still.
Even Bartolomeo stopped fidgeting.
Nami stared at Vivi.
"You're choosing me over your country?"
Vivi's jaw trembled.
"You chose me first."
That answer silenced her.
Sanji exhaled slowly.
"She needs a doctor. Immediately."
Cassandra finally spoke.
"Nami if we loose you not only will we loose our navigator and become sitting ducks, we will loose a precious friend. Believe me, that is something noone of us wants to go through."
Her voice was calm, but serious.
Everyone nodded at that.
Nami tried to laugh.
"Don't sound so dramatic."
"I'm not being dramatic."
The heat radiating from Nami's skin said enough.
The Eternal Pose glinted faintly in the sunlight, still pointing unwaveringly toward Alabasta.
Luffy scratched his cheek.
"So we find a doctor first."
It wasn't a question.
It was simple logic.
Nojiko nodded immediately.
"Yes."
Sanji crossed his arms.
"And fast as possible."
Vivi lowered the newspaper slowly.
Her eyes were clear now, filled with unwavering resolution.
"We change course to the closest island."
Nami opened her mouth to argue, but the words didn't come.
She sagged slightly against the mast.
Cassandra stepped closer.
"Let´s bring her inside to rest in a proper bed," she said quietly.
"Sanji please make some porridge for her."
"On it," he said without hesitation.
Nami looked up at her.
"Okay let´s find a doctor"
"It´s good that you see reason," Cassandra said poking her nose playfully.
The decision had been made.
The course was altered.
Nojiko adjusted the helm carefully, eyes narrowed as she calculated wind and current, hoping to find an island nearby.
The Eternal Pose still pointed unwavering and insistent toward Alabasta, but the Merry slowly drifted off that straight path.
For the first time since leaving Little Garden, uncertainty settled over the deck.
Nami had been moved below, laid carefully in the women's quarters. Vivi remained with her, tending to the fever with cool cloths and the porridge Sanji made.
Sanji stood near the stairs, arms crossed, cigarette forgotten between his fingers.
Luffy leaned against the railing, staring out at the sea.
Bartolomeo hovered awkwardly nearby, unsure how to help.
Cassandra stood alone at the bow.
The sea stretched endlessly ahead.
She didn´t know how they found Drum island in canon and was hoping to see a sign.
Her breathing slowed.
She extended her awareness outward.
Observation haki wasn't sight, it was more like a radar scanning the area.
The faintest distortion in space could alert her.
For a moment, she felt nothing.
Then her eyes narrowed.
Far ahead, something disturbed the symmetry of the horizon.
A dark vertical shape against the silver sheen of the ocean.
She stepped forward slightly.
Sanji noticed first.
"What is it?"
Cassandra didn't answer immediately.
The shape resolved slowly, as the Merry drifted closer.
A man in jester clothing stood calmly on the water.
He wasn´t swimming or standing on floating debris.
He just stood on the water looking at the approaching ship with a sad expression.
The ocean lapped gently around his ankles.
Bartolomeo blinked.
"…That's not possible."
Luffy leaned forward over the railing.
"Hey! How are you doing that?!"
The figure did not respond.
His coat fluttered faintly in the wind.
He just stood still, watching them.
Sanji's expression sharpened.
"That's no normal trick."
Cassandra's fingers twitched near her sword.
It started to suddenly snow.
That finally made the strange jester talk.
"It sure is chilly today."
Luffy looked at Bartolomeo.
"Yeah it is quite chilly."
Bartolomeo nodded.
Vivi stepped onto the deck quietly.
"What's wrong?"
She followed Cassandra's gaze.
Her breath caught slightly.
"…Is he walking on water?"
Cassandra shook her head slowly.
"No. He seems to wait."
The Merry crept closer.
The sea remained unnaturally calm around him, as if the waves themselves avoided disturbing his stance.
Sanji stepped beside Cassandra.
"Friend or enemy?"
Cassandra didn't blink.
"On the Grand Line?"
Her voice was quiet.
"Assume enemy."
Suddenly the sea below the man began to ripple.
A gigantic wooden dome rose from below the water, towering several times taller than the Merry.
The waves its emergence caused were strong enough to push the Merry away.
Nojiko had to fight hard, to hold the Merry steady.
Cassandra looked at the massive dome deep in thought.
"Maybe we will get the information we need from this event."