Chapter 27: Tanuki/ Bear/ Gorilla/ Reindeer Chopper!

As the mountain settled and became quiet, Luffy pulled himself fully onto the rock. Taking Nami gently off of his back, he laid her down near one of the broken trees and took his red coat off, using it as a blanket for the woman. He also took off one of his green gloves, using that as a pillow for her head.

"Nami, are you cold? Hang in there just a little longer." Luffy said quietly. Taking off his hat as well, he placed it on her chest.

"Listen. Hold this. Stay here and wait for me a little longer." Now clad in only his red vest, shorts, sandals, and a singular green glove, Luffy dove off of the rock and into the snow below to begin his search for Sanji.

While he could faintly smell the chef, it was hard seeing as he had both been buried and swept away by the avalanche. There was also a faint- very faint, but Luffy wasn't going to focus on that- feeling of the blonde's emotions. Using that as his guide, Luffy set off down the trail of snow.

It was eerily quiet now after what had felt like hours of screaming and yelling in the chaos that had been fighting off the lapins. There was only a gentle snowfall now and the wind that had been whipping around them harshly was gone.

It didn't take Luffy long to find Sanji, one of the man's hands poking out above the snow. Relieved to see this, Luffy scrambled over and began digging the chef out, covering his hands in haki to keep from hurting them now that he was down a glove.

Once Sanji was safely dug out, Luffy let out a sigh of relief and pulled him up and under his arm, heading back towards where he'd left Nami. The chef was unconscious, and Luffy knew that no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. He'd felt people that were unconscious like Sanji was, where they didn't wake up for sometimes days. While Sanji wouldn't need days, he would probably need hours if how muted his emotions were was anything to go by.

Once Luffy reached the rock where Nami was, he put the navigator back onto his back, making sure she was secure before picking Sanji back up as well. He didn't even bother taking his coat back, deciding Nami needed it more than him, but he did make sure to slip the glove back on.

With Nami on his back and Sanji under his arm, Luffy trekked through the snow and back up the mountain as fast as he could. Seeing as he now had none of his previous protection from the elements, his cheeks and nose were beginning to redden and his arms were beginning to get covered in goosebumps. He pushed these observations from his mind though, holding on to the brief flares of pain coming from his two crewmembers and using that as a reminder on why he needed to get a move on.

A strong flare of grief distracted Luffy momentarily though as he saw up ahead of them a baby lapin trying to dig out another bigger lapin. Without expression, Luffy walked over to the grief-stricken baby who was now flaring protectively at Luffy, doing its best to shield the paw sticking out of the snow- much like how Sanji's hand had been.

Once again ignoring the baby, Luffy stretched his arm past it and toward the paw, gripping it tightly before pulling the lapin out like he had Sanji. With the adult successfully out of the snow and hugging the baby close, Luffy continued on toward the mountain undeterred.

"I will definitely get you there... Don't die... both of you..." Luffy said softly, face set into a frown as he walked determinedly.

"Hold it, brat!" A voice shouted behind him, surprising Luffy. Out of everything Luffy and Sanji had encountered out here, a person had not been one such thing. Turning his head, however, he saw something heading his way at a fast pace.

"How dare you do many rude things to me! I'll beat you up!" Stopping, Luffy watched as the furry hippo ran up to him and stopped right in front of him, three people sitting on top of it.

"Huh? You guys're..." Luffy started but trailed off seeing as he couldn't remember the man's name.

"I'm gonna chew you up!" Wapol said, not even hearing Luffy speak.

"Get out of my way," Luffy said, not interested in messing with this guy at all. Especially not when he had two of his crew in critical condition and was told expressly to not fight anything at all.

"Humph! You're stupid, aren't you? Why would I get out of your way? Looks what you have on your back and in your arm are half-dead." Seeing that the man clearly wasn't going to do as asked and Luffy couldn't do anything to forcefully move him, the straw-hatted teen began the trek around the giant harry hippo, ignoring Wapol completely now.

"Hold it! Oh, I know! Chess! I thought up a new law. Write this down." Wapol said, turning to look at the man that had been standing on water earlier.

"Yes, sir!" Chess replied as he took out a book and pen.

"Those who ignore the king are to be executed!" Wapol recited as Chess wrote down his every word. Turning to look to Luffy now, Wapol only saw his back as he continued to walk away.

"Ignoring me already! Guys! First, get the sick and injured ones, who are ignoring me the most!" Wapol demanded, pointing after Luffy. Without hesitation, Wapol's two companions jumped off the hippo and began advancing towards Luffy.

"What'd you say?!" Luffy asked in a mixture of anger and slight surprise. He could see that Wapols aura was a grey, and there were even hints of darkness in him, but it still surprised Luffy occasionally to hear how heartless people like this could be.

"I'll take the woman on his back!" Chess announced as he readied an arrow.

"I'll take the man." The one with the afro said next as the two of them jumped into the air above Luffy.

"Take this! Marimo Surprise!" The man with the afro said as a black ball on his hand grew spikes. Luffy dodged the attack the best he could without jostling his two crewmembers as much as possible, the urge to fight itching inside of him as he glared with gritted teeth at the afro man.

"Damn you! You'll regret this! Don't follow me!" Luffy shouted, the anger clear on his face as he began running towards the mountain he needed to climb. Chess shot an arrow right as this happened, missing only by inches due to Luffy's sudden movement.

His haki alerted him to two more arrows heading straight for Nami's back, but he was able to backflip over them, hoping that the flip didn't hurt Nami too much.

After running for a few seconds, Luffy could feel that the other three were still coming after them, but he couldn't see them.

"Huh? Where are they?" Luffy asked to himself as he looked back. He realized quickly that Wapol was actually in front of him and jumped back only seconds before he would have run into the man's open mouth.

"Now this is a true battle in a snowy area! The white disguise! Snow Powder Makeup!" The man with the afro shouted as he and the jester-esque man jumped out from either side of Luffy.

"Since they're so weak, they'll be dead with just one shot. Checkmate." Chess said as he readied another arrow.

"Stop it!" Luffy shouted angrily, still falling from his jump and not having any way to dodge the two incoming attacks.

Before it became an issue though, two lapins came out from behind Wapol, knocking the 'kings' companions down.

"White bears..." Luffy said, surprised to see them here.

"Lapins?!" Wapol shouted in disbelief.

"Did they protect him?" The afro man asked.

"It's a coincidence. Lapins never become attached to humans." Chess said, sure of himself. Despite this, Luffy recognized the baby Lapin clinging to one of the adult's backs as the one he'd helped earlier.

"Thanks! You saved me!" Luffy shouted over the wind that was starting to pick up around them. With that, Luffy began heading towards the mountain again, knowing that the Lapins would watch his back. He could hear yelling from Wapol and his gang, but Luffy ignored it entirely, focused only on getting to the doctor.

The wind and snow only got worse the closer to the mountain he got, and soon he was trudging through knee-deep snow. Finally, he reached the base of the mountain that he needed to climb and when he looked up he was pelted with more wind and snow.

"So this is where the doctor lives? I can't see the top." Luffy said as he continued to look up the rock wall. While he was cold- freezing really- he could still feel the pain radiating from both Sanji and Nami and it only continued to motivate him into getting them both the help they needed.

"I can see the doctor... if I go up there..." He muttered with a frown. Preparing himself, Luffy tied Nami tighter to him and took both his gloves and sandals off.

"Hang in there a bit longer... Nami... Sanji." Luffy told them as he bit down on Sanjis coat as a means of carrying the man.

Coating his hands and feet in haki, Luffy began the slow climb up the mountain, jaw clenched tightly to keep Sanji from falling. After only a few feet off the ground, the coat that had once been his that he'd given Nami flew off the navigator's back, but there was nothing he could do so he let it get carried away by the wind.

His face was completely red with windburn, and by the time he was getting almost halfway up the mountain, he could feel the drain on his haki taking its toll. At this rate, he wouldn't reach the top before it gave out on him.

This turned out to be the case as only a few minutes later, the shiny black armor covering only the tips of his fingers and toes now gave out completely, leaving him to climb the next half without its protection.

Time passed agonizingly slow, but Luffy didn't even think about stopping once. Even when his fingers and toes started to bleed and his skin turned so red it was starting to go purple. He focused only on getting to the top of the mountain, focused only on the idea of getting his nakama the help they needed. He'd been through worse anyhow, back at the facility. This was nothing. He could do this.

When he had about a quarter left to go, his grip on the wall slipped and he started sliding down the mountain that had taken both pain and time to climb. Digging his hands and feet into the mountainside, he left trails of blood as his skin tore and shred against the sharp jagged stone. Gritting his teeth and giving out a muffled scream, Luffy refused to let go, and eventually, his descent slowed until he was stopped completely.

Again, and without hesitation, Luffy began the climb renewed, even as blood streamed down his arms and the pain in his face became numb. Despite everything he was going through, he could still feel Nami and Sanjis pain egging him to keep moving, to get them to the doctor. He didn't even have any of his normal anxieties or fears over whether this doctor would be a good person or not. All he had on his mind right now was climbing the mountain.

Finally, after lots of pain and time, Luffy saw the top. A few more feet and he was gripping the edge of the mountain.

While he was in arguably a state just as bad as Nami and Sanji, Luffy didn't let himself fall just yet as he looked at the large castle in front of them.

"We made it..." Luffy muttered quietly. Despite wanting to go and actually get the doctor, Luffy couldn't do anything as the pain and exhaustion finally caught up to him and he collapsed to the ground.

What felt like only moments later, Luffy could feel the presence of two others heading his way, and seeing as he had been told that the doctor lived up here, he guessed that this was them. Forcing himself to get up, he opened his eyes to see an old woman and a giant- was it a bear?- heading his way. While it was hard to stay conscious or even keep his eyes open, Luffy was barely able to manage to bring up the aura of the two and saw that they were as blue as could be hoped for a doctor and their companion.

(Luffy wasn't entirely sure if he was hallucinating the bear or not.)

"Doctorine, there were people over here!" The bear said. Could bears talk? Luffy had never met a talking bear, but he'd seen a hiking bear earlier so maybe that was something that was normal for this island.

"I see that, and from the looks of it they're all about to die." The woman said bluntly and without much care in her words. Despite this though, Luffy could feel that she did care about them to some extent.

"Doctor..." Luffy managed to mumble out as the two got closer.

"That's us kid." She said as she kneeled by him while the bear went to look over Sanji and Nami.

"Doctorine, this girl's temperature is dangerously high! And the man seems to have a lot of internal injuries!" The bear said worriedly, feeling much more strongly than Luffy had ever felt an animal feel. Usually, all animals' emotions were dulled, like when humans sleep, but this bear had emotions as clear as people did.

Maybe he really was hallucinating.

Trying to search through the twos emotions, he found that he couldn't sense any of the darkness in them, and seeing as he was still on the verge of passing out there wasn't much he could do even if they did.

"We're gonna help you out now. It's gonna cost you though." The woman- Doctorine?- said as she looked Luffy over. He flinched away from her, his body reacting automatically to the knowledge that a doctor wanted to look him over, but there wasn't much he could do to get away from her.

"Help... my friends... first..." Luffy managed to get out.

"I get the picture. I'll save them. Chopper, let's begin treatment!" Pleased that the woman seemed to mean her words, Luffy found himself drifting again.

And then everything went black.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The sudden panic and fear made Luffy bolt upright immediately.

Everything was hazy, and he was pretty sure that there was a crash and scream nearby, but that only made his own panic and fear rise. He couldn't remember exactly what had happened last. He was with Sanji, trying to get Nami to a doctor, there were giant lapins... the metal jaw guy... and he climbed a mountain right? Did he make it?

Looking around he found that he was in a room surrounded by walls made of stone.

Right, he'd seen the castle and then almost passed out, but then the doctor and the bear came over.

And Nami was panicking right now and scared.

Remembering exactly what woke him up, Luffy scrambled out of his bed, finding that despite his previous pain and injuries he felt much better now, if not hungry.

"A-ah! Y-you shouldn't be out of bed yet, human!" A voice squeaked to him. Luffy paid it no mind though as his eyes caught sight of Sanji nearby, bandaged and no longer in as much pain as before.

"What's going on?" The chef asked groggily as he woke up from the yelling. He winced minutely and grabbed at his ribs which were bandaged before noticing Luffy and their companion.

"Nami's panicking," Luffy said without even giving Sanji another glance. Hearing this, Sanji immediately got up with a frown, wondering just what was going on.

Luffy wasted no time as he, as well as Sanji, began heading towards Nami, ready to fight any doctors necessary if they were hurting her.

"W-w-wait!" Once again, Luffy and Sanji didn't pay the voice any mind as they began searching the halls for the right door that would take them to Nami. While Luffy could feel her nearby, it was still hard to ascertain exactly where in the building she was.

"Nami's panicking?" Sanji asked as he opened a door to an empty room.

"Mm." Luffy only hummed in response as he opened a door to a room that didn't have Nami in it.

"Oh, Nami-san, don't worry! I'll save you!" Sanji shouted as he continued barging into the rooms.

"I-if you're looking for your friend, s-shes over here!" The voice from earlier piped in timidly. Finally, Luffy and Sanji paused in their tirade to focus on the other person with them.

Except, it wasn't a person at all.

"Tanuki." Luffy determined immediately, blinking as he looked at the small animal.

"Looks like it." Sanji agreed.

"I'm a reindeer, not a tanuki!" The 'reindeer' yelled angrily. Luffy and Sanji only blinked again before their eyes widened in surprise.

"It talks!" Sanji shouted in surprise.

"Hey, you're the bear from earlier! And you can talk!" Luffy said in amazement.

"Reindeer! I'm not a tanuki and I'm not a bear!" Ignoring this once again, Luffy rushed over to the animal much to its fear.

"You said you know where Nami's at? Where is she?" Luffy asked, feeling that- while her pain and fear had dimmed- she was still buzzing from the adrenaline that had filled her seconds earlier.

"S-shes in here." The reindeer said, timid once more as he pointed a hoof towards the door behind him. Luffy didn't even notice that the poor creature had backed completely up against the wall, eyes wide with fear.

Looking to the door, Luffy felt that the tanuki seemed to be telling the truth and nodded.

"Thanks." He said absentmindedly as he barged into the room without hesitation, Sanji close behind. The yell of surprise from Nami drowned out the yelling from the animal that was telling him he shouldn't be up yet.

Scanning the room quickly, Luffy saw that only Nami and the woman from earlier were in there. The woman- a doctor, Luffy remembered- was sitting on Namis bed and drinking from a bottle of alcohol while Nami was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Luffy, Sanji..." She said, hand over her chest as she sighed in relief when she realized it was just them.

"Nami-san, we're here to rescue you!" Sanji declared.

"What's wrong? You were panicking." Luffy said in a much more serious tone as he gave the doctor an accusatory look. Now that he was awake and lucid, he took the chance to scan the woman once more and found that he got the same results as earlier. No darkness, and no gray.

That didn't mean she was off the hook though.

"I was panic-? Right. Well, uh, it was nothing really." Nami said with a nervous laugh as she looked to the doctor again.

"I'm surprised you two can move around already." The woman said with a grin as she eyed the two. She stood up from the bed, still completely at ease, and started to move toward them which only made Luffy stiffen.

He had been in such a bad state earlier that his body hadn't been able to do anything to get away from the doctor, but now that he was better he found all the alarms in his head were yelling at him to move, and to move away fast. It was hard for him to just stand his ground as she stood face to face with him, and it was only because of everything Whiskey had done to help him that he was able to.

"Hm, looks to me like you don't like doctors. Or maybe you just don't like me." Doctorine observed, leaning down so that her face was only inches from Luffys. The rubber teen didn't flinch away like he remembered doing earlier, but he did frown.

"You saved my nakama," Luffy said in non-answer. It seemed that he was telling himself this more than he was telling her.

"I did. And as I said earlier, it's gonna cost you. My services don't come free you know." She said, finally standing straight again and moving away from the captain much to his relief.

"So what's the infamous 11097 doing climbing a mountain in the beginning of the Grand Line?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm starting my own crew," Luffy answered shortly, still unsure on how he felt about this doctor. While she seemed alright, he still couldn't get over the haze of waking up to Nami's panic, especially when that panic had been because of said doctor.

"Uh, not to interrupt, but what exactly are you?" Nami asked, her face still red with fever but looking- and feeling- much better than she had the past few days. Sanji and Luffy both looked to her, noticing quickly that she was looking at something behind them, and they turned to see the animal from earlier hiding the wrong way around at the door. The reindeer squeaked in fear, eyes wide in terror at being singled out.

"I-I'm a reindeer, you stupid human!" They managed to get out, the harshness of its tone not nearly as intimidating as it could be seeing as the animal was practically shaking.

"I... see that. I'm curious on how you can talk though." Nami said, still confused over this whole thing.

"That's Chopper. It's just because he ate the Human-Human Fruit, that's all." Doctorine answered now with a wave of her hand as if it wasn't all that abnormal.

Being on a crew with Luffy, Nami was starting to become accustomed to weird things being normal.

"A Human-Human Fruit... One of the devil fruits..." Nami murmured to herself. She'd only just been introduced to Devil Fruits being real once she met Luffy and Buggy, so to hear about more people- and in this case, animals- having them surprised her still.

"It gives him human attributes, allowing him to talk. And I taught him everything I know about medicine." Doctorine said, still smiling. Luffy could feel that she cared for Chopper, and while she hadn't been all that expressive in her emotion, it was still clear as day to the empathic Luffy.

"You're a doctor?" Sanji asked skeptically, turning to address Chopper now who stiffened in shock.

"Yeah! What of it?!" He barked, but once more the words weren't as intimidating as they could be due to his appearance.

Although it seemed that Sanji was going to say something more, the sound of Luffy's stomach rumbling loudly stopped him.

"Ah. I'm hungry." Luffy said with a blink as he placed a hand over his stomach, laughing shamelessly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sitting at the table in Nami's room, Luffy burped as he finished off the last of his food, happier now that he had something in his stomach. Sanji and Doctorine were sitting with him at the table while Nami continued to rest in the bed nearby. Chopper had disappeared some time ago, not saying anything to anyone as he did.

"Hey, old lady, you said that Chopper was a doctor, right?" Luffy asked as he sat back in his chair.

"Luffy's your name, right? Did you just call me old lady?" Doctorine asked, pointing a finger in Luffy's face after he confirmed his name for her.

"I called you old la-"

"Watch what you say! I'm still in my youthful 130's!" Doctorine shouted as she kicked Luffy out of his chair and into the wall across the room.

"Woah! What an incredible old hag..." Sanji said quietly to himself, only to be kicked into a wall next.

"And Chopper's my assistant. He's a doctor in his own right." She answered calmly, lounging in her chair.

"I'm looking for a doctor for my crew," Luffy said, voice muffled by the wall that his face was still smashed into.

"And you think Chopper could be the doctor for you? What, I'm not good enough?" She asked with a cackle, amused by her own words. Luffy lifted his face off the wall to look at her, taking in her emotions and aura.

While the doctor didn't seem to be all that bad a person, there was something about Chopper that Luffy like a whole lot more. If he had to choose between these two, he knew without hesitation he would choose the cool reindeer over the old woman any day, especially seeing as there was still a slight thrum of anxiety low in his chest just being in the woman's presence.

He wasn't quite sure why this was though. Maybe because Chopper was so unlike any doctor he'd ever seen in his life before. Maybe it was because he was an animal, the separation between him and every other doctor he'd seen being the difference in species. Whatever it was, Luffy knew that if he was going to get any doctor from this island, it would be Chopper.

"Ah, it doesn't matter anyway, I wouldn't want to waste my glorious time being a pirate. I'm not interested in the sea." Doctorine answered herself as Luffy detached himself from the wall, joining her at the table again.

"But the sea has so much adventure!" Luffy said, confused how she could be so uninterested in the ocean he found so freeing and exciting. Before the woman could answer, Luffy noticed that Chopper was back, hiding the wrong way once again in the doorway. There was a moment of silence as Luffy and Sanji spotted the reindeer before the two stood and bolted after him.

"Wait!" Sanji called as he ran.

"Cool reindeer guy, hold on!" Luffy shouted next, hoping to get Chopper to stop.

"Hold it brats!" Doctorine shouted as she started chasing after them as well. Luffy and Sanji noticed that the woman had swords now as she chased them down, and it looked as if she knew how to use them.

"Ah! Old hag!" Luffy and Sanji screamed, running after Chopper still only because they were now trying to run away from Doctorine.

As the two ran, at some point Chopper was able to get away. They didn't pay this much mind, more concerned over Doctorine getting them than they were of getting Chopper.

"This castle is strange." Sanji started as they ran down snowy halls.

"It's cold and there's snow inside." He said next as he looked around to the wind blowing in the white powder. They hadn't noticed it earlier in their attempt at finding Nami, but now that they were here again Sanji couldn't help the shivers running through him due to his lack of a coat- or even shoes.

"Oh...? Ah! It's cold!" Luffy yelled, not having realized earlier but noticing now as he hugged his arms.

"I told you before, you're slow!" Sanji barked, remembering back on the Merry when Luffy'd done the same thing.

Seeing as Doctorine wasn't in sight anymore, the two slowed to look around. They realized that a lot of the doors were frozen shut and unused as snow blew all around the tower in the middle of the castle. The two were taking in their surroundings calmly when suddenly Doctorine jumped over the railing, a mass of more weapons on her back and swords still firmly in her hands. It only took a second before Luffy and Sanji began running anew, screaming all the while.

"I think it's a bad idea to let her join Luffy! Even if she is a doctor!" Sanji screamed to his Captain as they dodged the weapons that Kureha was now chucking at them.

"She's not a doctor! She's trying to kill us! And I never asked her to join, I wanted the reindeer!" Luffy screamed back. As they ran, they ducked into the only room they could get into which happened to be Nami's again.

"Ah! Reindeer!" Luffy shouted, spotting Chopper against the bookcase. Nami was sat up in bed, most likely having been talking to Chopper, but whatever they'd been saying had been interrupted by Sanji and Luffy barging in and chasing him out of the room again.

Once again, it seemed Doctorine was no longer chasing them, and it didn't take long for Chopper to disappear as well seeing as he knew this castle well while they were running aimlessly.

"Hey, Luffy. Look at that door at the front entrance. It's wide open." Sanji noticed, stopping in his run to look.

"Hm?" Luffy asked, looking as well.

"No wonder it's cold. In any case, let's close it. With it open like this, there's no difference between outside and inside the castle." Sanji said, he and Luffy moving to do just that.

"Hey! Stop it! Don't touch that door!" Chopper shouted from the upper floor railing

"Huh?" Luffy asked, feeling that Chopper felt strongly about his demand. While he wasn't entirely sure why this was the case, Luffy could tell that Chopper was worried and he truly didn't want them to close the door for whatever reason.

"Never mind what he says. Let's close it or we'll freeze to death." Sanji said, already turning to go do just that. Luffy didn't follow through and instead was watching Chopper.

"I don't know-"

"Oi! Didn't I tell you to... stop it?!" Chopper yelled loudly, his worry mixing with anger as he suddenly starting getting much larger. Luffy watched with wide-eyed amazement at the sight, but when Chopper broke the railing and the debris started flying his way he was forced to jump out of the way.

"Sugoi! You're the bear again! Ah, wait, definitely a gorilla." Luffy corrected. Now that he was lucid and could see Chopper clearly now, he could clearly tell that what he'd thought was a bear earlier was, in fact, a gorilla.

"I'm a reindeer!" Chopper shouted once again, the anger clear in his voice.

"Hey, Luffy. Come check this out." Sanji said, no longer making a move to close the doors as he lit a cigarette. Luffy poked his head around the doorway to look at whatever it was Sanji wanted him to see and noticed the nest of baby birds.

"They're abby snowbirds. Well, if we close the door, they'll fall..." Sanji said, realizing now why the door was still open in the first place.

That didn't change the fact that they were now actually standing outside in the cold though.

"It's cold!" With that, the two ran back inside, though even then it wasn't all that different from standing outside. Chopper was gone now, happy that they hadn't closed the door.

"Ne, Sanji," Luffy said, looking up at the broken railing that Chopper had been at only seconds earlier.

"Yeah? What is it Luffy?" The chef asked, wondering what was on the rubber teen's mind now.

"Did you see that? Chopper got so big!" Luffy said, stretching his arms out in demonstration of how big he'd gotten.

"And he can talk. And walks on two legs." Sanji added with a nod.

"And he's a reindeer and a doctor!" Luffy continued, smile widening.

"He's definitely interesting." Sanji agreed.

"He's so cool! Sanji, he's gonna join our crew!" Luffy declared cheerfully.

While he'd been worried about just who he was going to have as their doctor, Luffy now knew that Chopper was just the pers- animal for the job. Any of his usual fears and anxieties when it came to doctors seemed to be nonexistent around the reindeer, and Luffy was sure that had a lot to do with the fact that he wasn't actually human. Not only that, but Chopper had such a clear blue color, almost as clear and blue as Vivi's, that Luffy knew he was a good person.

Chopper was definitely going to be their doctor.

And so we've met Chopper, the only doctor for Luffy!

I had a lot of thoughts about how Luffy might react to Chopper, because while he is a doctor, he's also unlike any doctor Luffy has ever seen before. For Luffy, the criteria of being a doctor relies heavily on the idea that doctors are all mean, ruthless, bad intentioned humans, so to meet a doctor who isn't human in the slightest would mess with his perception a little. He's still going to be a little cautious of Chopper when it comes to any doctoral procedure, but other than that, he would, I feel, be much more at ease with the reindeer in general then any other doctor that he'd just met.

Also, I felt like, because Doctorine had ample opportunity to hurt not only Luffy, but Sanji and Nami as well while they were all incapacitated, and yet didn't, it would allow him to feel more comfortable around her as well. Not entirely, not like Chopper, but enough that he's not constantly on edge around her. As noted, he was still a little anxious sitting with her, but it was no where near what it would have been like had they just been meeting without her helping them. There's also the fact that he has been through extensive therapy with Whiskey about changing his gut reactions to doctors and has been working for a long time now to get over his phobia.

So with that, I think I'll leave you at that! Thank you as always, for the love and support on this story! I love writing it and it means the world that there is such a loyal fan-base behind this story! You guys constantly give me the motivation to continue writing these chapters and getting them posted regularly.