Author's Notes: Originally written for the LJ writing community onepieceyaoi100 to the prompt "Warmth". Takes place any time after Chopper joins but before Water 7. No pairings. Word count: 377.
Inner Hearth
The night is clear and crisp, stars glittering with sharp brightness over Going Merry. Chopper's smiling as he takes over guard duty from the shivering Sanji, whose teeth are chattering as he slowly climbs down, hands in mittens. There's frost on the main mast, and on the railing.
He really likes seeing all the wildly different climates of the Grand Line, how they shift on the open sea, and the more stable systems on each island. Hot summer island weather tires him out, but on the whole he loves feeling and the variety, seeing the sky turns shades of colour he never knew, smelling other kinds of air.
Yet these cold snaps are nice, too. Not just because they're comfortable and familiar - but also because they make him feel more useful and needed to the rest of the crew. For instance when it comes to being watch on a night like this - unlike the others, he has no trouble with it, and so volunteers for a longer shift than usual.
He remembers how, in very cold weather, the herd used to huddle together, sharing their body heat. But he was always left on the outside, wondering what it might be like, all surrounded by others' warmth like that.
Luckily it rarely turned that cold. Reindeer are built to handle wintry weather. He did, and survived.
The houses of the humans huddled together as well, the long coils of smoke from their chimneys mingling in the pale blue winter sky. He didn't need the heat from those fires, yet he was still drawn to them, fascinated. But those houses, like the herd, didn't admit outsiders, forming a wall against them.
He didn't fully understand until he found a welcoming fire of his own, the one in the small fireplace in Doctor's cave.
Chopper doesn't really need the blanket in the crow's nest, either. Nor the pot of hot tea and the handful of cookies that Sanji brings him, climbing up just once more before going to bed. But they make his heart feel warm.