A/N: So, this chapter almost went up a week after the last one, but my computer and USB both conspired to eat the original chapter just as I was finalising it, leaving me to have to go searching for the motivation to write it all over again. (In other news, this is now officially the longest chapter yet at over 2000 words.)
Thanks for the faves and follows.
SakuraS41: Thank you. If it ever goes completely dead I'll mark it as complete, but I'm still excited about writing it even if I sometimes take forever to update.
Einhornsirup: Thanks.
Karen Killa: Thanks. That will be coming, but not quite yet.
ShamelessYeXiu: Thanks. It was a pretty bad day all round.
Minecraft Guardian: You are welcome, thanks.
ilovecartoonsgirl: Thanks, and the emotional rollercoaster of this arc continues.
Rajo: It certainly did, I'm glad you enjoy my interpretation of Sanji. We will be getting him, but not quite yet. You're not the only one. Thank you so much.
Black' Victor Cachat: Definitely.
sharingankakashi007: No, he doesn't. Thank you.
As he watched the island disappear into the storm behind them as they sped off after their missing crewmates Chopper was both relieved and excited. The couple of days they had had on it had been stressful and confusing, not to mention painful. But they now had a clear direction and goal to work toward, an enemy to fight, a plan to follow rather than chasing shadows like they had all day.
The first indication that the island would be bad for them that he had had was when he had lost track of Robin on the way to the bookstore. He worried now that if he had just been paying more attention he could have helped her as she was taken, could have given answers to the crew before everything decided to fall apart. They could have been ready for at least some of the trouble to come, could have avoided the division that happened by focusing on a bigger opponent.
Instead, he had been so excited for the possibility of some more books, he had not paid any attention to Robin. He wasn't even sure how long it had taken him to notice that she wasn't there and when he had, he had panicked.
It had taken running into Sanji as he searched to calm down and think logically about where she might have gone if they had gotten separated. Of course, it made sense to head back to the mutually known fixed point of the ship after losing the other and possibly finding another crewmate to warn that they had lost each other in town in case something had happened. It made sense if that was what had happened.
It hadn't but been what had happened and going back to the Merry had just begun piling up their bad luck and news.
Chopper tried not to think too hard on the way that Zoro had calmly informed them that Merry was dying. The way that Zoro had been nice enough to try and explain her condition as wounds so he could understand why. He hadn't had much time to process the loss he was feeling for the first home away from Drum he had had. Not with everything else that had happened between then and now.
Nami had returned to the ship too quickly afterward to accept the loss at the time, bringing with her the worry for Usopp.
He remembered the feeling of reaching the place Nami had told them he was and finding nothing but a pool of blood. The doctor on in him had sat up and paid even more attention than it had been at her description of Usopp's condition at the sight as Sanji and Zoro both made worried comments of their own. If he had been as bad as Nami had told them he was, then went to try and get the money back again, what condition would he be in when they found him?
Running into Luffy on the as they were about to head off after him in a typical Luffy fashion had had only helped to push them after Usopp faster.
Oddly, despite his worry for Usopp, being with the three of them at the time had felt safe. Like there was nothing to worry about, they could stand against anything. He knew that the crew jokingly referred to them as the Monster Trio, and they were the strongest fighters in the crew, but he couldn't remember another moment he had felt as much a part of them as he had as they had walked up to the Franky House after finding Usopp like that.
Like he was one of them. Like he was just as strong. Like he had the right as much as any of them to say, "You hurt one of us and we will hurt you just as bad".
Then there was the craziness of the argument between Usopp and Luffy.
Chopper had known that Usopp had a special connection to Merry, he liked to tell the story of how his friend from his home had given her to them. But he hadn't really realised how he would take the news of her condition. Though, after a sleepless night, he realised that the way he had been told was probably not the best way to break it to him.
The argument itself was a blur of noise, grief and worry in Chopper's memory as the rest of them tried to get the two of them to stop. He even vaguely thinks that he heard a deeper, calmer voice once through the noise, and for the first time in Chopper's time on the ship everyone had ignored whatever Zoro had said.
The way Usopp had spoken to him when he had tried to go after him to help him with his wounds had hurt. He could admit that in his mind, if not out loud. He didn't want to accidently add to the way the others felt toward Usopp after split. Both Usopp and Luffy were his best friends on the crew, they were best friends with each other too. Chopper hadn't had any friends at all before the Straw Hats, just Doctor and Doctorine, he didn't really understand what happened. Why had it had to happen like that? How could he cut ties with all of them so easy?
He remembered that when the time came for the duel, Zoro had tried to tell him to go inside if he couldn't bring himself to watch. The truth is, he didn't know if he could have stayed to watch it from the deck without interfering if Zoro hadn't been standing right beside him. The solid presence gave him a silent reminder in the back of his head each time he thought to try and jump the railing that Luffy had told them to stay where they were. It was also a reassurance to him when the world felt like it was shifting all around him, pulling away what he thought he knew of being on a Pirate Crew out from under him, that there was something steady right beside him.
Chopper understood now why Sanji had tried to stop him going to Usopp after the fight, but he remembered his anger and confusion at the time. He was a doctor, his first instinct will always be to help an injured person, especially a friend.
They had all been emotional wrecks at the time, but he remembered how Zoro had taken charge and gotten them moving before they could fully break. Getting them through packing up their home and to an inn, ensuring they were settled for the night.
For Chopper it had been a restless one, even after he had cried himself out. Going over and over the events of the day, the what ifs and if onlys until dawn light and habit had pulled Sanji from his bed in their shared room and out into the day.
Chopper had remained only a short time alone until he had felt he needed company. He had first tried Luffy and Zoro's shared room across the hall and had almost panicked when no-one had answered. He may have knocked a little harder than needed on Nami's door in response, but she had just partially opened the door, taken one look at his face before saying, "roof" and shutting it again.
When he had reached the roof, he had been a bit confused at first. He had only seen Zoro leaning on the bell-tower. The swordsman's eyes had opened as Chopper walked up to him before tilting his head a little to one side. Chopper had followed with his eyes until seeing the Straw Hatted figure on one of the nearby towers, allowing him to relax and just sit beside the swordsman.
It had been Sanji returning to the inn that had begun the events of the day. With Chopper choosing to go with him to continue looking for Robin before Nami had run in with news about the mayor being hurt. So, they had all split up, Nami and Luffy to the mayor, Sanji and Chopper to Robin and Zoro had stayed behind to wait.
After running into Robin and listening to the things she had said, then Sanji telling him to tell the others exactly what she had said, he hadn't really given much thought to exactly what it could mean other than the fact that they had lost another crew-member. At least, until he had found the three of them together and relayed the message.
That had been an oddly serious crew meeting, even Luffy had been still as they talked. Chopper had kept silent unless asked a question to clarify what he had already said. Like there was a pressure on him to remain quiet while Nami and Zoro talked over the situation and advised Luffy on the paths that could be taken from there. Even more particularly for the crew, they made a clear enough plan as to how they would go forward.
It hadn't been until they were waiting at Galley La for a sign of Robin that he realised what it was he was reacting to with this particular group. Usopp often used to tell stories about the early days of the crew, for all he didn't know all that much about what happened before he joined. But one thing was clear, the three crew-members he was currently with were the original three, the ones that started the crew.
It wasn't until they were moving on Galley La that Chopper was reminded again why they so rarely made any kind of clear plan before jumping into a fight. Luffy never follows them. Also, Zoro and Nami's attempts to factor Luffy into any plan they makeup to cover for a failed plan tend to backfire just as badly, as evidenced in their rather confusing entrance to the building.
Then, when they got in there were the crazy Government people with Robin inside the building. When they tried to get a clear answer as to what happened and whether Robin was really leaving and Luffy had been adamant that she wasn't. Chopper remembered watching Luffy and Zoro attempt to fight them and he had been terrified. He could only remember one other time they had both been taken down so quickly, back when they had just gotten to the lower sky sea and they hadn't yet been used to the oxygen levels.
The roof had begun to fall in after one of the attacks and Chopper had been caught under while pushing Nami out of the way. He missed much of what happened after until he was able to get free in the middle of the fire. He had no conscious idea how he had managed to do so with the two shipwrights and Zoro's sword.
Then, there was getting free and finding out that Robin had done what she had done for them. Looking for the others to let them know, trying to do it all in time to stop the train.
Chopper remembered his reaction when he had realised that what he had thought was a sea anemone had actually been Zoro's legs and swords sticking up from a chimney in the Back Streets that the shipwrights helping them had warned him to avoid during the coming Aqua Laguna. Though, he still didn't quite understand how Zoro had known that he had one of his swords, it was good that he managed to cut himself out in time to allow them to start too head back before the massive wave.
After the terror of the close call with the water, it was even more of a relief to tell both Luffy and Zoro the truth of what Robin had done. The reaction could only be described as determined, even if they almost fought the shipwrights for a ship to follow them before the lady from the train station the day before offered them another way.
Now, Chopper was helping he by shovelling coal in the engine of the Rocketman as they sped after their friends. They were coming.
The Straw Hats didn't leave anyone behind.
A/N2: Also, a heads up that there will be a lot of different perspectives on some of the same scenes through this arc. There is a lot of crew dynamics here and different people see and feel very different things in the same situation, so I'm going rely on that for that but I feel I need to cover certain moments by different people for different reasons. Usopp vs Luffy is one of those and you will see it again.