Doctor Kureha

Despite Yuna creating a set of stairs for everyone to get to the top of the mountain quickly, the "climb" still took half an hour. Although climbing stairs for half an hour straight would utterly exhaust an average person, it was no trouble for people like Yuna, Luffy, and Sanji. Luffy not having any trouble even though he was carrying Nami on his back as well.

So, half an hour of climbing stairs later, the group of four reached the top of the mountain, where a huge castle was located.

"What a curious sight."

The castle itself was nothing special, but Yuna immediately noticed a pirate flag fluttering on top of the castle's highest tower, which she found rather weird. After all, pirate flags were usually attached to ships and not castles. Additionally, if the Marines got wind of a castle flying a pirate flag, there would be a lot of trouble.

While everyone was observing the castle, Yuna could hear weird squeaking footsteps coming from a nearby forest, and after looking for their source, she found a little furry creature with a bag on its back, horns on his head, and wearing a hat walking out of the forest. Seeing the little creature, Yuna nodded in approval.

"Cute."

[I almost feared you unlocked something weird.]

'Don't worry, Kurama, I'm not a degenerate.'

[You aren't?]

'Nope, I'm a degenerate.'

[... I see.]

During their little conversation with Kurama, Luffy and Sanji noticed the furry little creature in the distance, while it also noticed Yuna and the rest, resulting in...

"GYHAA!!! HUMANS!!!"

... it screaming in fright and running away.

"Did that little guy just speak our language?"

Hearing Yuna's question, Luffy and Sanjo tilted their heads in thought before nodding in agreement.

"That seems to be the case."

"So cool~ I'll make it join our crew!"

While Sanji was only mildly surprised, Luffy instantly became excited and decided to make the little creature part of his pirate crew.

Yuna, on the other hand, had different thoughts as she used her senses to take a closer look, making her a little excited.

'I see, the little guy has eaten a Devil Fruit. Very good! From the feeling I'm getting, I've finally found a fruit that gives me a somewhat similar feeling to Luffy's. Now I just need to find out what kind of fruit the little guy has eaten.'

While Yuna was deep in thought, the Straw Hat Pirates approached the castle. Before they could reach it, a woman with long gray hair who clearly was in the later stages of life but dressed like a rebellious teenager stepped out of the castle gates. She took a sip from a bottle clearly filled with alcohol she was holding before she started speaking.

"It seems like you are scared of my reindeer; what do you people want?"

While Yuna quickly assumed that the woman in front of them was very likely to be the doctor Kureha they were looking for, Luffy stepped forward with a confident smile.

"I'm Monkey D Luffy, and I'm going to be the Pirate King. I want that little reindeer to join m..."

Bonk

That was as far as he got before Yuna smacked the back of his head.

"Oww! Why did that hurt!"

"Because a pervert's hands penetrates all defenses."

Luffy, not understanding why Yuna's "attack" hurt despite him being made out of rubber, could only pout at her explanation, which he didn't understand either.

Sanji, on the other hand, was pretty sure that Yuna had just made an innuendo but didn't comment on her words either.

Ignoring the duo, Yuna stepped forward and started speaking to Kureha.

"Sorry about your reindeer, but w..."

"Chopper. His name is Chopper."

"Right. We honestly only looked at him, and he started running away. As for why we are here, one of our crew mates suffers from Five-Day Disease, and we were told by a doctor that you could cure her."

"Oh? Five-Day Disease? That's supposed to be extinct since hundreds of years ago. Were you running around a prehistoric island or something like that?"

"Yup, we spend some time on Little Garden."

Hearing Yuna's words, Kureha nodded in understanding. Obviously, she was aware of the island close by, so she knew about Little Garden. However, what surprised her a little was that people came here from Little Garden, as that was not the usual way. When people entered the Grand Line, the islands they were supposed to go through were set, and Drum Island usually wasn't the island one had to go through after Little Garden.

'Fascinating. Did they get here by chance? One of their crewmates got sick, and they coincidently arrived at an island renowned for its advanced medical care. Hehe, as expected of a D.'

"I see, no problem. I can cure your crewmate, but that won't be cheap, hehe~"

As those words left Kureha's mouth, she started chuckling while rubbing her thumb and index finger together, to which Yuna only shrugged her shoulders. Money has always been pretty much meaningless to her.

"Chopper, come here! We have a patient!"

Seeing that Yuna was agreeing, Kureha called Chopper, who walked out of the castle as soon as he heard Kureha calling him. However, this time, instead of being a small furry creature, he looked like a tiny reindeer with a blue nose.

"SO COOL!!!"

Hearing Luffy suddenly yelling, Chopper cringed a little and took a step back. However, a fist suddenly descended onto Luffy's head sending him crushing into the ground.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SCARE HIM!"

Naturally, that fist belonged to Kureha, who moved surprisingly fast and smashed Luffy into the ground. Frankly, Yuna could have stopped her but didn't. Instead, she moved at lightning speed and removed Nami from his back.

"Hey there, doctor, careful with the patient."

Kureha only huffed in disdain hearing Yuna's scolding. If Luffy still had Nami on his back, she wouldn't have hit him so hard in the first place. No matter how rough she handled people, she was always careful with her patients.

"Anyway, let's get into the castle."

Nodding her head, Yuna placed Nami on Chopper's back, who quickly walked away under Yuna's curious eyes.

"Did he eat a Devil Fruit?"

"Mhh? Chopper? Yeah, he ate the Zoan Type Human-Human fruit."

"Zoan Type? As expected, there are different categories of Devil Fruits. Can you tell me more about that?"

"Tsk If you are looking for a teacher, you have to look somewhere else."

Seeing Kureha's annoyed expression, Yuna briefly frowned before a sly smile appeared on her face. Out of nowhere, a bottle appeared in Yuna's hand as she approached Kureha again.

"Hehe, don't be like that, sister. Look, let's have a nice drink and chat about these things~"

Initially, Kuraha only scoffed at Yuna trying to butter up to her, but the words of disdain she was about to speak quickly got struck in her throat when she saw the bottle Yuna was holding.

'Damn, that is some excellent stuff!'

"Hehe, I was just kidding, just kidding~ Let's chat a little. What do you want to know about."

As Yuna handed the bottle to Kureha, who took it with an excited expression, she couldn't help but smile.

'Haa~ Bribery~ I feel like I'm meeting an old friend~'

[It really has been a while, huh?]

'Yeah, with overwhelming power, there is rarely a chance to use it, after all.'

Of course, the bottle of alcohol wasn't the only thing that swayed Kureha's opinion. Although she tended to claim to be still young, having a young and beautiful woman like Yuna calling her "sister" certainly tickled her fancy as well.

So, the little group was approaching the castle, and Kureha started explaining the different kinds of Devil Fruits out there.

Zoan Type, which allowed the person who ate it to transform into three different forms of the animal associated with the fruit while generally making the person who ate it tougher.

Paramecia Type, which granted all kinds of wacky abilities, from seemingly something entirely useless to utterly ridiculous things. Yuna was the type that believed that there were no useless abilities, only people who didn't know how to use them properly, but it was still a little early for her to judge how that worked out in this world.

Finally, there were Logia Type Devil Fruits, which basically turned the person who ate them into the element associated with the fruit, making it almost impossible to physically hurt them.

Hearing Kureha's explanation, multiple thoughts instantly popped up in Yuna's head, covering all kinds of things she had experienced so far.

'Okay, first of all, from what I have just heard, Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit is, without a possibility of doubt, a Paramecia. However, if that is the case, why does it feel so similar to Chopper's Fruit, which clearly is a Zoan Type?

Clearly, people like that clown guy and the bogger guy have eaten Paramecia Type fruits, but if that is the case, why do they feel similar to each other but not similar to Luffy? Why does Luffy's fruit feel like a Zoan Type?

In fact, I've met quite a few Paramecia Types by now, but none of them felt as similar to each other as Luffy's supposedly Gum-Gum Fruit and Chopper's Human-Human Fruit.

Mhh~ Human-Human Fruit Type: Rubber Man. Something like that?'

[What kind of human is "Rubber Man" supposed to be?]

'True, that doesn't match the title of "Zoan". The only thing I can guess is that Luffy has eaten a Zoan Fruit of some human-like tribe whose body is rubber-like.'

[Does something like that exist?]

'How am I supposed to know? I only just got here a few weeks ago as well.'

However, as soon as her dialogue with Kurama ended, something else popped into her mind, making her remember Luffy's affinity to the sun.

'That being said, I remember people from my first life that are at least a little similar. Their bodies weren't rubber-like, but they were people clad in all-white who worshipped the stars. They liked to play around with reality a little too much, so one day, they managed to wipe themself out. There are not many similarities with Luffy, but the sun affinity and the reality-defining body are at least somewhat similar. I wonder~'

[Mhh? What was the name of that tribe.]

Hearing Kurama's question, Yuna puffed out her chest as she confidently answered his question.

'The Neko Tribe!'

[Neko?]

'Yes, Nako!'

[Wasn't it Neko?]

'Yes, it was Niko!'

[... You don't remember at all, do you?]

'... Fine, you win. I don't remember their name. However, you have to cut me some slack here. None of their tribe was part of my harem!'

[That... is honestly a little surprising.]

'Yeah, they had already managed to wipe themself out before I heard of them.'

[That explains how they managed to get away from your harem: suicide.]

'More like self-genocide, but yeah, that was what had happened.'

Closing that topic with those words, Yuna couldn't help but allow her mind to wander in another direction, namely, Smoker, who she had met in Louge Town.

That man had clearly eaten a Logia Devil Fruit, but despite Kureha claiming that those who have eaten a Logia Devil Fruit are immune to physical attacks, Yuna clearly managed to hit him.

'Just like that, more mysteries pop up. Could I hit him because that other guy was holding him with some kind of ability that stops Devil Fruit Powers? Or maybe I could hit him since it was a surprise attack and he wasn't aware of my presence? The last option would be that I could deal damage to him because my attack was filled with my intent. Just like Obito in my previous life, my attack went through despite the enemy supposedly being immune to it.

Mhh. It's a pity I didn't have more time to test a few things with Smoker. I would have loved to experiment with that kind of interesting ability for a bit. That being said, wasn't there someone whose whole body was made out of water in my previous life as well? What was his name again? Sue... Saui... Sui... err, whatever. There certainly was someone like that, and using intent worked against that dude as well, so there is that.

I really hope I find another Logia user to bully cough... test a few things on soon~'