(A/N: Thank you for your review yikescapricorn. And to all those who followed and favorited, too. :) I'm not sure yet, but I've seen where other writers make separate one-shots that show what it would have been like if the main character ended up with someone different, so I might do that myself once I get into the time-skip. Not that I've yet to decide if and who Toffee will be closest too...This chapter's a little shorter than others, but there are some small cute moments between Luffy and Toffee in this chapter.)
"Honestly! You two brats are complete idiots! Climbing up the mountain bare handed! The boy with the Straw Hat especially! Not even wearing a coat or a decent pair of shoes...No wonder these young men both suffered severe hypothermia!"
Toffee could only smile sheepishly at the so called 'witch'-who she had learned was called Doctor Kureha, or Doctorine as she preferred to be called- and who had also been scolding her since she had been led into the castle by that strange creature. To say she had been shocked by the fact that the monster transformed from that tall beast to a rather adorable reindeer who stood on two legs, was an understatement.
But it was clear the blue nosed reindeer seemed cautious of Toffee from the furtive glances he had kept giving her until he carefully placed Luffy and Sanji on comfortable beds after they had soaked in tubs of hot water-taking to peeking from the door he had rushed to hide behind until Kureha showed up-so she had remained quiet, not wanting to startle the poor thing. She just hoped Nami didn't become too alarmed if she happened to awaken when finding the rather humanoid animal treating her.
"Um, thank you again for taking care of all of us," Toffee spoke up, removing her hands that had been resting in a good sized bowl that was filled with very hot water. However when her hands were shoved back in the liquid by the long white haired old woman-who dressed in clothes that truthfully didn't suit her age-before her, Toffee couldn't help but squeal from the abrupt pain. "H-haven't they soaked long enough?" Her hands being dunked in 108 degrees Fahrenheit water hurt a lot more than her frostbite had.
"Has it been fifteen minutes already? If you don't want your fingers to be amputated, I suggest following my treatment? Do you understand, girlie?" Doctorine questioned, grinning when the gray haired female rapidly nodded her head in agreement with a frightened expression. "Heeheeheehee! Good!" Placing two fingers against Toffee's forehead, Kureha continued, "No fever and your heartbeat is normal. Are you happy? You certainly came out a lot luckier than your companions."
When Toffee's hands seeming to have thawed out finally, Kureha dried them off with a towel before proceeding to wrap them in gauze, making sure to keep the fingers separated from each other. Peering over at Luffy and Sanji who were actually resting peacefully, Toffee smiled faintly. They were covered in bandages from head to tow, but the heating pads in their beds seemed to be helping bring down their own, much more severe, frostbite.
"I'm just glad I didn't cause them too much trouble. I would have hated if my clumsiness got the better of me and I ended up sliding down the mountain." Toffee admitted. She had only learned how to mountain climb thanks to Deimos and Cain, though she had tripped and ended up breaking a few bones back then...Well, when Cain wasn't rushing to catch her even if it caused him to get hurt himself in the process.
"You all seem like a couple of grade A troublemakers to me," Doctorine said with a click of her tongue. She cackled when Toffee let out a surprised "oof!" when being roughly pushed back on the bed that the pink eyed female had been sitting upon, and placed a hand on her slender hips. "Rest. I'm going to check on my other patient."
"Nami's going to be okay, right...?"
"She's in the care of my stupid son, Chopper. She'll be fine," Doctorine said with a wave of her hand. A grin arose on her 'young', yet wrinkled features. "The fact that you didn't faint in front of Chopper, I'm mildly impressed. Then again, you might just be a weirdo."
Toffee laughed awkwardly at this. "I guess being weird runs in my family...but I have a little monster companion of my own, so I'm not really scared of them," she admitted, her words causing Kureha to raise a brow. "And I kind of think humans can sometimes be a lot more frightening than even monsters..."
Kureha didn't say anything to the young woman's comment, but a smirk appeared on her face before she headed off. Once she was alone, the room being filled with the sound of Luffy and Sanji's snores, Toffee quietly stared up at the ceiling. Being tucked in a nice warm bed was causing the exhaustion she hadn't felt before to hit her. Maybe taking a small nap wouldn't hurt? She could check on Nami once she awoke.
"SAVE ME!"
Toffee groaned since it felt like she had just dozed off, only to be awoken by a cry of terror. Slowly sitting up, Toffee rubbed at her sleep filled eyes, wondering what in the world had she woken up to? Both Sanji and Luffy were latched onto Chopper's arms as he ran around the room in a mad panic, knocking various items over in the process, which was no wonder due to the scary expressions her crew mates bore.
"Wh-what are you two doing?!"
Luffy stopped snarling hungrily, turning to the dumbfounded gray haired woman with a grin. "Oh, Toffee! Your awake! Look! I found some meat!"
"Sorry if we disturbed you, Toffee-chan. Once I cook this thing up, Nami-san and you will feel much better."
"Wait! You shouldn't eat or cook him!" Toffee squeaked out, flinging the covers off her form and quickly pursuing after the three when a screaming Chopper went fleeing out of the room with Luffy and Sanji still clinging onto him.
Noticing Nami sitting up in her bed and looking just as confused when the three yelling individuals went racing by her, Toffee's face broke out into a smile. "Nami-chan! You're awake! I'm glad!"
Luffy and Sanji seemed to just realize this themselves, backtracking into the room where Luffy chirped out with a large grin, "You got better!"
"Thanks to you guys," Nami acknowledged with a small smile.
"Yosh! Nami-san, I'll whip up a nice venison dish to help speed up your recovery!" Sanji cried out jubilantly while Chopper quietly tried to sneak by. But the little reindeer's efforts were in vain for Luffy and Sanji turned to look at him at the exact same time.
"HOLD IT!"
"AAAAAAH!"
Dr. Kureha placed her hands on her cocked hips and chuckled out, "I'm surprised they can run around like that already."
"What is that blue-nosed talking deer?" Nami asked curiously.
"You wanna know? His names Chopper. And he's just a regular blue-nosed reindeer."
"But reindeer don't talk," Nami brought up, slowly blinking her large brown eyes."
"There's one difference between him and any other reindeer. He's eaten the Human-Human Fruit," Doctorine explained, her words causing both Nami and Toffee's eyes to widen. "He's a reindeer who's gained the abilities of a human. And I've pounded all of my medical skills into him."
Toffee crossed her arms over her chest, slightly tilting her head. "That's even more of a reason why Luffy and Sanji shouldn't eat the poor thing...We should probably go talk to them," she trailed off, smiling at her shadow when he formed beside her. Seeing Heartless-kun hit at his palm, Toffee giggled. "That doesn't mean beating them up, you know."
Kureha raised a brow, eyeing the short dark creature. "So that's your little monster you talked about? Your a Devil Fruit user too, hmm? Well, it doesn't matter. There's no need to bother. Chopper can take care of himself." she trailed off with a knowing smirk that only caused Toffee to gaze at her in confusion.
Toffee soon understood what Kureha had meant. Luffy and Sanji were sporting large bumps on their heads, looking lightly defeated, when they returned to Nami's room with platters of steaming food and cups of warm tea for all of them to dine upon. Nami had ate as much as she could before tiredly saying she was going to try and rest some more, curling up under her blankets and falling into a much more restful sleep than her previous ones.
After finishing his kebab, Luffy slammed his hands on the table where he declared, "Please be my nakama! I'm begging you, Grandma! We need a doctor on our ship!"
"Luffy? That's your name, right?" Doctorine questioned, holding up a finger. "Did you just call me 'Grandma'?"
"Yeah. I did, Grandma." Luffy said nonchalantly, earning a painful kick to his face from the tall and lean doctor.
"YOU SHOULD WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" Doctorine bellowed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair once Luffy had impacted with the wall. "I'm still in my sparkling, too young 130's, you know."
"Whoa, your hella old," Sanji commented with an indifferent look. And he was soon being thrown head first into the wall.
Toffee nervously chewed on her fork before timidly speaking up, "You'd fit right in, Doctorine-san. A lot of our nakama have violent tempers like yours..."
Dr. Kureha just snorted at this. "Want me to become a pirate, eh? What a load of crap. You're wasting your breath. I'm not interested in the ocean,"
Luffy had crawled back over to the table, and Toffee couldn't help but squeak when noticing the blood running from his nose and even trailing down his teeth. Seeing the girls reaction, Luffy casually slapped his hand over her eyes, causing Toffee to cry out in alarm.
"You don't have to be! Just come on an adventure with us, Grandma!" Luffy chirped out, his words causing Kureha to twitch. "Toffee here's scared of blood, but she's still tagging along!"
Guess she was more worried about these three than her own fear when she came up the mountain Kureha pondered, peering at the blushing girl who was awkwardly telling Luffy she was fine and he could remove his hand. She had been a bit wobbly, but Kureha assumed that was caused by her harsh climb up the mountain.
"Good for her. And didn't I tell you to watch your mouth, you brat?"
Chopper, who had been listening in on the conversation with nervous interest, tensed up when Sanji and Luffy's attention suddenly turned on him. All of their mouths dropping open in unison, Chopper ended up shrieking in fear when Luffy and Sanji lunged at him, once again chasing him around the castle.
"WAIT, MEAT!"
"HOLD IT, YOU LITTLE BRATS!"
Toffee's pupils had shrunk seeing Kureha hunting after the two this time, obviously having become annoyed by their antics and carrying a pair of sharp knives at that, unleashing a sigh before she turned to look back at Nami with a tired smile when hearing the orange haired girl grumbling to herself. "I'm sorry, Nami-chan...With all this noise, you're not getting much rest..."
"I suppose I should be used to that by now..." Nami groaned out, blinking when Chopper returned, closing the door that was letting in the cold. Many of the rooms inside the castle surprisingly were filled with snow other than a few bedrooms. "Thank you. You're the one who took care of me, right?"
"Shut up! I don't need gratitude from a human!" Chopper snapped, only to take on a bashful expression and sway from side to side where he stood. But his annoyed countenance quickly returned. "Don't mess with me! Asshole. Don't mess with me, jerk."
Nami and Toffee both shared a look with each other since it was clear the young reindeer wasn't very good at hiding his feelings. And it wasn't long before Chopper had sneakily walked up to Nami's bed where he cautiously started to poke at her hand.
"You guys are pirates?"
"Yep."
"Real ones?"
"That's right."
"Do you have a skull and crossbones flag?"
"Right on our ship," Nami continued to answer, bringing up a question of her own. "Interested in pirates?"
In a panic, Chopper backed away from the navigator. "No! Idiot!" he cried out, causing books to come tumbling off the shelf he had hit where a few fell onto his head.
Nami pulled her legs over the side of the bed, a hand moving to rest on her forehead. "Alright, alright. Sorry. But, if that's so, would you like to come with us? To the sea? Wanna come?" Nami smiled at the reindeer who wore a look of utter shock. "It'd be a big help to me. If we have a doctor onboard, I won't have to stay here for three days. Also, our ship doesn't have-"
"D-don't be stupid! I'm a reindeer, y'know! Why the hell would I go with you humans?! Aren't you scared of me...?"
"I don't think we have any reason to be. You'd actually fit right in with us," Toffee mused, grinning as she pointed to the spot beside Chopper.
The small doctor blinked, letting out a shrill yell when noticing the dark figure, who was about his height, standing next to him. And he backed into the bookshelf once again, but Heartless caught the books this time before they could collide with Chopper's head.
"Wh-what is this?!" Chopper gulped out, poking at the creature who poked him right back, this making Chopper's brown fur frizz up.
"My shadow. You ate a Devil Fruit, right? Luffy, the guy with a Straw Hat, and I did as well," Toffee explained with a soft look. "So we're not that different. Everyone would love you on board once Sanji and Luffy stop trying to eat you, of course..."
As if right on cue, Luffy and Sanji came rushing into the room and started to pursue after Chopper. The little guy really couldn't catch a break, and Toffee sighed as Heartless-kun went rushing after them; standing up as she jogged after her shadow. He'd just end up fading away if he got too far away from her.
A small bead of sweat ended up trailing down her head when she found her shadow actually engaged in a dust ball fight with Sanji and Luffy, running a hand through her full bangs where she questioned almost hesitantly, "Erm, what are you doing...?"
"Ah, sorry, Toffee-chan! Your crazy shadow just jumped us for some reason," Sanji apologized, yelping when Heartless latched onto his leg with his mouth, and he glowered at the shadow creature.
"Guess what, guess what! We've decided to ask that monster reindeer to join us!" Luffy exclaimed out of the blue with a wide grin.
Toffee blinked, smiling faintly at this. At least they'd finally come to see Chopper was someone special and not just meat. "Nami had the same idea. But it might not be so easy to convince him to join..."
"Then I'll keep asking until he does!" Luffy declared, punching both Sanji and Heartless when he pumped his fists into the air. Even if it was by accident, it caused both to twitch in anger.
"BASTARD!" Sanji growled out, kicking Luffy along with Heartless and making the straw hat wearing male scream when he was sent crashing into a nearby wall.
I'm more worried they're just going to end up scaring Chopper further at this rate Toffee pondered with an exhausted smile.