Franky was still whacking away at his iron plates when it was my turn. Boy was he ever noisy! While I held my ears in pain, the rest of the crew seemed unaffected. Oh yeah! I had sensitive hearing. I giggled at myself for being so silly. Nami called my name, so I stepped up to the tree.
"Here you go, Chopper!" she said, as she handed me a large, red bag, tied at the top with a brown string. I toppled over from the weight, and was immediately crushed. My vision was a little blurry, but I morphed into Strong Point, and yanked the bag up with me. I thanked Nami and quickly hurried to my office.
OOOOO
I squished the bag and I heard something crackling. It was so scary! I thought I broke something, so I quickly untied the bag and pulled the opening wide enough for me to see in. And there I saw it. The best. Gift. Ever!
Caocut leaves! I knew they had some on this island! I was too busy with Nami's gift, otherwise I would've looked for them. They're really rare though. Only 1 tree grows on each island. Plus, they leaves are only in a preservable form for one week during winter. Because we're at sea, we can't have them any other way. The leaves were identifiable by their 'X' shaped cut right in the middle of crease. Otherwise, they looked like regular old maple leaves. Because of the cut however, they're exposed to the winter air, and chilled from the inside. The chill helps to make the leaves preservable, which is why they're only harvestable in winter. However, the cut also helped to expose the leaves to the sap-infused air from the trees around it. From that, depending on the trees surrounding the Caocut tree, it can possess up to 100 healing properties!
I took one of the leaves from the bag and trotted over to my microscope. I set the leaf under the slide, and adjusted it on the platform so that the 'X' fell directly under the lens. Then, I peeked through my microscope to see how the air had affected the cells surrounding the 'X'. I noted at least 20 different specialized cells, which was what I expected, considering the diversity of Cadeaux Island's forest. I carefully adjusted the slide to each cell and noted the healing qualities of each.
The strongest quality was the ability to increase the rate of mitosis, therefore increasing the rate of repairing damaged skin. That would be really useful for Luffy, who uses his own body when attacking, and damages his skin easily from cuts and scrapes. I started thinking of the different ways to apply the leaf. A tea would work, but a paste would be better. I could use the paste on his knuckles, which got damaged the most during his fights. I giggled happily and wrote that down.
The next strongest quality was to relieve general aches. That would be super useful for Zoro, since he trains so much and often holds a certain stress position for a long time. It really isn't good for him. We all know he's strong, but one day, he's gonna strain himself, and who knows what will happen then? In any case, the best way to apply this would be in a powder. I jotted that down, and moved to the next area of cells.
The last strongest quality was a general pain reliever, which would be great for those of us who can't tolerate great deals of pain. Me, Nami, and Usopp for instance are pretty vulnerable. I could put this into a pill, and give each of us a package. This stuff was pretty strong, though. It would probably work on Luffy too if he used Gear Second too much. This would help to prevent a repeat of the Enies Lobby incident. I shuddered to think of what might've happened had Robin not… Anyways, today was a happy day! I shouldn't be so sad about a few little things!
I jot down a few more notes, and wrote down the other minor uses of the leaf. Then, I turned off my microscope and stored it. I looked for my special salts, and gasped when I couldn't find them, only to remember that Sanji had borrowed some and put it back in the wrong cupboard. I found the salts, and started laying out half of the leaves on a large brown sheet. I put the other half of the leaves in large, glass jars filled with water. The healing properties would diffuse into the water using the 'X' cut, and I could use the water for other medicines. I turned back to my brown sheet and began sprinkling salt over them.
As I worked on the leaves, I started speculating who had gotten me this amazing gift. Though I wasn't sure, I suspected Robin. After all, she was the only other intellectual on the ship, other than maybe Nami. She was the only one with resources (her Devil Fruit) to find the sole tree. And finally, she was the only one who I had told about the Caocut leaves, and how fascinating they were. She was reading a book while I was explaining it to her, but she must have been more attentive than I thought. I giggled to myself, and thanked her in my head.
OOOOO
A.N: I know. I said in the last post I would update Chopper's chapter late Thursday or early Friday. Unfortunately, I've had a lot of trouble with Wi-Fi, as I am abroad. I've decided to move all the chapters a day up. So, Sanji's chapter will be tomorrow, Zoro's chapter on Monday, Usopp's chapter on Tuesday, etc., leading up to Christmas Day on which I will post Nami's chapter. Thank you again for being so patient and understanding with me. It's been a weird past few days, but I'm glad to be back on track once again.