Chapter 28: Annoying Mouth Returns
To say the idea of getting Chopper to join was easier said than done was an understatement.
Sanji had been quick to give up on his chase of Chopper in favor of staying with Nami which left Luffy to do all the chasing. Not that he had any problem with this mind you, but it did slow down said progress.
While his heightened sense of smell allowed him to track the animal, as well as his haki and ability to feel emotions, that didn't discount the fact that Chopper was tinier and more knowledgeable of the castle than Luffy was. There were times when Chopper would up and disappear and it would take Luffy quite a while to find him again, even though he knew he was in the area. With how much they were running around, it made it harder for Luffy to track by smell seeing as it was everywhere now.
Eventually, though, he would always manage to locate the reindeer.
"Ah, there you are!" Luffy exclaimed as he slammed open a door. Chopper was inside, having been in the process of looking at something, and in his fright he knocked a bunch of glass tubes and beakers into the air. With quick reflexes, he managed to catch them on his antlers or on his hoofs, but it took balance and care to make sure they didn't fall again.
"Wow! You're really cool! Ne, be my friend!" Luffy declared as he brought his face close to Choppers, smiling big and wide at the reindeer.
"Y...You're friend?" Chopper asked as if the words were foreign. His eyes were wide as he looked at Luffy and the captain could feel the disbelief and confusion in the animal
"Become a pirate!" Luffy elaborated. Finally, Chopper removed the glass beakers and put them safely on the table as he backed away from Luffy.
"I'm not interested in pirates at all. And I never wanted a friend!" Chopper told him, but Luffy could feel the lie twisted with pain and sadness. Luffy didn't take the time to dwell on that though, still smiling as he moved closer once more.
"If you become my friend, my other friends will all be happy!" Luffy pressed.
"Wait! Why would I wanna become your friend?! Don't insult me!" Chopper asked before bolting from the room, chase starting anew. Luffy followed him as he ran down the stairs, a beaker of liquid in hand- or hoof in this case. Before he reached the bottom, the reindeer tripped, falling down the remaining stairs and landing on his hat. Luckily, he was once again able to save the beaker he had from breaking as he caught it with his feet.
"You're really funny! I'll definitely make you become my friend!" Luffy declared. Seeing that Luffy was still chasing him, Chopper scrambled up and started running away once more. Luffy recognized the area to be where Namis room was, and sure enough, that's where Chopper seemed to be heading.
"Doctorine! Help me!" Chopper screamed as he barged in. Sanji, Nami, and Doctorine were all there but Luffy paid them no mind, still focused entirely on getting Chopper to join.
"Wait! Hey, wait! Stop!" Luffy yelled as Chopper ran through a door. Seeing as he didn't open it, he left a reindeer-shaped hole that Luffy didn't fit through, and because of this, the captain crashed to the ground. Before he could get up to follow, the door opened and Chopper ran out, having run into a closet.
"Wait!" Luffy yelled again, jumping up and following Chopper. The reindeer hid behind Doctorine, poking out behind her legs, but that didn't stop Luffy as he began circling to get him. This only resulted in the two of them moving in circles around Doctorine.
"What're you doing?" Nami asked, not knowing about Luffy's recruiting attempt.
"This guy's gonna join us and become our friend!" Luffy told her, still not taking his eyes off of Chopper.
"Oh, really?!" Nami asked happily, smiling at Chopper who looked anything but happy.
"I didn't say that!" Chopper declared.
"Yes, you did!" Luffy answered back.
"No, I didn't!"
"You did!"
"Be quiet, both of you!" Doctorine said, yet she did nothing to stop the two who were still running around her. It seemed Chopper realized she wasn't going to help in any way so he ran off again, Luffy close behind.
"Wait!" Luffy shouted.
The chase resumed for several more minutes until Chopper managed to think far enough ahead that he was able to get Luffy into a room and slam the door shut. Locking it, he successfully trapped Luffy, leaving Chopper safely away from the man for now.
"Hey! What're you doing?!" Luffy asked as he held the bars on the window of the door, looking through them at Chopper.
"It's because you're pestering me!" Chopper defended, the key dangling from his hoof as he caught his breath.
"Like I said, just join us!" Luffy told him as if it were that simple.
"This is exactly what I mean by pestering me!" Chopper barked back.
"It's fun to be a pirate!" Luffy continued, as if not hearing the complaint.
"I've had enough! Just rest in there for a while!" Chopper told him, holding the key up to show Luffy he was well and truly stuck in the room.
"Huh?" Luffy asked as he looked at the key.
"Your injuries actually aren't light either," Chopper added as he slowly backed away from the door. As he turned away he started talking quietly to himself, not worried about Luffy chasing him anymore. However, he was quick to notice that the key to Luffy's room was no longer in his possession.
"Huh?" The reindeer asked as he looked to his empty hoof. The sound of the door opening behind him made him freeze, eyes widening as dread filled him. When he heard Luffy laughing, the terror that had stopped him turned into adrenaline that fueled him to run.
"Why?!" Chopper screamed fearfully.
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Wait!" Luffy repeated over and over. As he chased Chopper, he didn't expect for the reindeer to suddenly stop, and as a result, he charged past him, crashing into a wall.
"This smell is..." Realizing Chopper's emotions had changed completely from fear and adrenaline from Luffy to anger and fear due to this new smell, Luffys cheer and joy left immediately.
"Huh?" Smelling the air himself, Luffy quickly recognized just what Chopper was smelling, a frown of his own forming as he looked in the direction of where it was coming from.
Chopper was quick to run off, yelling for Doctorine as he did, but Luffy didn't follow. Instead, he moved to the window, seeing Wapol and his companions standing in front of the castle.
"Ah! It is those bastards! That annoying mouth!" Luffy all but growled out as he pressed his face against the glass of the window he was looking out.
Without hesitation, Luffy started his run out of the castle, but he noticed that Doctorine and Chopper had beaten him to it, Kureha telling Wapol that Drum Kingdom didn't exist anymore.
"Wait!" Luffy shouted, and unlike the good-hearted way he'd been shouting it all day, now it was filled with anger and annoyance. Everyone turned to look at him as he ran towards them, wondering what he was doing.
"I'm gonna beat the crap outta him!" Luffy declared, pulling his fist back to do just that.
"Gum gum..."
"W-Wapol-sama! Its Straw Hat!" Chess said fearfully at the sight of the angry Luffy.
"Ah!" Wapol screamed as he saw the fist that was starting to head his way.
"...Pistol!" Luffy screamed, letting all of his anger out as he decked Wapol in the face. The man flew backward, nearly falling off the cliff as a result, but he was saved by his companions.
"How dare you bastards... Over and over again... How many times do you have to be in our way?!" Luffy asked as the snow blew furiously around him.
"Hmm? Why are they here?" Sanji asked as he walked out now.
"Since I had someone injured with me then, I ran because there was no other choice. But this time... I don't have to hold back anymore!" Luffy said, smiling now at the thought that he could finally fight this guy like he wanted to.
"How dare you suddenly attack Wapol-sama, the king of the Drum Kingdom!" One of Wapols subordinates said with a frown.
"That's right! He's the king! How dare you do such a thing to his excellency, the most excellent ruler of all the citizens on this island!" The other declared. Luffy knew this to be a lie based purely on all of the men's auras, and as a result, he pulled his cheeks in a mockery of them, sticking out his tongue.
"Who cares! You guys tick me off!" Luffy yelled back.
"Hey young man. You know them?" Doctorine asked calmly from behind him.
"Yeah, I do! He's that annoying mouth! The annoying mouth pirate!" Luffy yelled as he turned to address her, pointing to Wapol as he said this.
"That annoying mouth?" Chopper asked in confusion.
"He keeps getting in my way! He ate part of our ship and attacked my friends! I won't let him get away with any more than that!" Luffy said in determination, stomping where he stood.
"Before that, aren't you cold in that getup?" Sanji asked, eyeing his lack of snow gear yet again.
"Huh?" Luffy asked, stopping his stomping at this.
"Didn't they say he was the king? He isn't a pirate?!" Luffy asked, disregarding Sanji completely as he turned to look at Wapol again.
"That's what you just realized?!" Sanji yelled in disbelief.
"Humph! What an idiot! It seems he finally realized his rudeness. Wapol-sama is the king of the Drum Kingdom. When he met you before, he was temporarily a pirate for his own reasons. That's all." The man with the afro informed them smugly.
"He's done being a pirate and is going back to being the king of this castle and country." Chess said next, equally as smug.
"Hey, this place is cold!" Luffy said, turning to Sanji again and ignoring the two as he hugged his arms.
"That's what I've been saying!" Sanji yelled in frustration.
"It's 50 degrees below, you know!" The man with the afro yelled.
"They're making light of us!" The jester man yelled next.
"I'm really mad now... Straw Hat! I'll bite you off!" Wapol declared as he stood up, his nose bleeding and cheeks bruised from Luffys punch.
"Um, could you hold on a minute? Luffy went to get some clothes." Sanji told them, only furthering Wapol's anger.
"He's gone?!" Wapol screamed, stomping in place much like how Luffy had seconds earlier.
Meanwhile, Luffy was running through the castle shivering, looking for clothes but not finding any. Eventually, he found his way back to Namis room, the woman having been napping until he barged in shouting about clothes.
When he ran in, she asked what was going on to which he quickly explained about the fight, but more importantly, he needed clothes. Nami offered hers up, and soon enough he was heading back out in Nami's coat, ready to join the fight for real now.
As he ran out, taking note of how warm the coat was, Luffy noticed that there was a strong sense of worry coming from Doctorine and Sanji and wondered what was going on.
"Luffy!" Sanji yelled, noticing the teen heading towards him.
"Huh?" Luffy asked.
"Grab my leg from there!" Sanji shouted to him urgently.
"Your leg? Sure!" While he didn't know the reasoning for it, Luffy didn't question it as he stretched his arms out towards Sanjis leg as asked and grabbed it.
"Like this?" He asked, standing still to hold on tight.
"Okay then! Don't let your hands go!" Sanji told him as he readied to swing the leg Luffy was holding. Seeing this, Luffy grinned in determination, nodding.
"Got it!" Luffy told him as he held on tight.
"Armee de l'Air Assault... Gum Shoot!" Sanji yelled, swinging his leg, and consequently Luffy as well, toward Wapol who just so happened to be chewing on Chopper. When Luffy crashed into him, it forced the man to spit Chopper out and send him flying into the furry hippo. This stopped the king from falling off once again, but it also ended up sending the hippo flying into the sky as a result.
"Th... Thank you. You guys're amazing..." Chopper said gratefully, eyes wide as he looked at Sanji and Luffy.
"Ah! Hey Luffy! You jerk! Isn't that Nami-san's jacket?!" Sanji asked as he pointed an accusing finger at him.
"Yeah... Look! He's still alive, though the hippo flew away." Luffy noticed, more focused on Wapol than Sanjis accusations.
"Take it off! You jerk!" Sanji yelled, trying to pull the coat off but not succeeding at all. Seeing as it wasn't working, Sanji stopped, just in time to see Wapol getting up again.
"Oh, he stood up," Luffy said.
"Would a normal person stand up after taking that attack?" Sanji asked curiously. After all, it'd been a hard hit.
"His body's made tough!" Luffy replied.
"Chess! Call out what I ate today!" Wapol demanded as he stared Luffy and the group down.
"Yes sir! Well... you ate one butter-sauteed cannon and one raw cannon on the ship. Also cannonball and gunpowder salad as well as a toasted house in the village." Chess recited from a book.
"What kind of stuff do you eat?!" Luffy asked in surprise and confusion.
"When it comes to omnivores, this guy takes the cake," Sanji muttered as he took a drag from his newest cigarette.
"Wait and see... Food soon becomes my blood and flesh..." Wapol told them as his entire body started changing.
"What's that?" Sanji asked as something started sprouting from the man.
"Munch Munch Shock! Wapol House!" Wapol said as his entire body turned into a house and his arms became cannons.
"A house?!" Sanji asked in disbelief.
"So cool!" Luffy said with awed eyes.
"It's too soon to be surprised. Now, this is the king's technique! Munch Munch Factory!" Wapol shouted loudly as he promptly ate his two subordinates.
"What?! H... He's eating his own men!" Sanji yelled with a dropped jaw, not believing what he was seeing.
"He's eating his own people!" Luffy repeated, more angry about it than surprised. They continued to watch as Wapols started moving side to side, steam coming from the cannons as he did.
"Feast your eyes on this! Come out, miraculous union!" Wapol yelled as the door on his body opened.
"I am the strongest warrior of the Drum Kingdom... Chessmarimo!" Chessmarimo, which was the two that Wapol had eaten combined, stepped out of the Wapol house, ready to fight them.
"Well... isn't that just one riding on the other's shoulders?" Sanji asked, noticing that that's mostly what it looked like.
"Sugoi!" Luffy shouted, not caring that that's what it was at all.
"What's cool about it?!" Sanji yelled in his ear.
"Don't let your guard down. If they were really weak, a stupid act like exiling doctors... would've been stopped by the citizens." Doctorine told them.
"Don't worry, they won't be an issue at all," Luffy said confidently as he stood straight and cracked his knuckles. The doctor eyed him out of the corner of her eye, smiling at that.
"I guess that would be the case for an ex-Whitebeard pirate, now wouldn't it?" Doctorine asked with a laugh. Luffy laughed at that as well, but it seemed that this information was news to Wapol and Chessmarimo.
"E-ex-Whitebeard?!" They asked with wide eyes. Sanji sweat dropped at this, wondering how it'd been this long and they hadn't recognized Luffy as the infamous 11097.
"Uh, yeah. He's 11097. You know, the Whitebeard pirate that left and started his own crew recently?" Sanji asked, jutting his thumb out to point at Luffy who was still smiling gleefully.
"11097?!" Chessmarimo asked before trying to regain their composure.
"Whoever you are doesn't matter! I am this kingdoms king, and as king, I declare under the Drum Kingdom's Constitution, Article 1, 'Those who don't do as the king wishes should die.' That sums up this entire country, ex-Whitebeards included. It's because this country is my country... and this castle is my castle. Of all the flags, don't fly that quacks flag! It will ruin the castle!" Wapol yelled, getting over his shock quickly as he raised a cannon arm towards the flag flying on the top of the castle and fired.
Luffy felt the devastation from Chopper at the sight and sound of Wapol trying to shoot the flag down, and without thinking Luffy activated his second gear, using the speed it gave him to intercept the cannonball in the air.
"W-what?!" Chopper asked in disbelief as one second Luffy was standing beside him, and the next he was in the air hugging the cannonball to his chest.
"Mahaha! Fool! Don't you know what a cannonball is?!" Wapol asked, clearly thinking Luffy had just signed his own death warrant. Sanji knew by now that the cannonball would have no effect on his captain, so he watched indifferently as Luffy was sent flying backward from the force of the ball.
"A direct hit!" Doctorine shouted with a frown.
"Why would he jump into the cannonball?!" Chopper asked worriedly right as said cannonball exploded loudly, drawing their attention over to where the explosion had occurred. Seeing as Wapol had been aiming for the flag, Luffy had been pushed towards it, and when the smoke blew away, they saw Luffy standing unscathed in front of the flag that was unharmed.
"How..." Chopper asked softly, before realizing what just had happened. Turning a glare towards Wapol, Chopper couldn't stop himself from charging towards the man.
"You bastard... you tried to attack Doctor's flag!" Chopper yelled furiously. Seeing as he was still in his tinier form, he quickly ran right under Chessmarimo's body and quickly sized himself up to his much larger form when he was closer to Wapol, grabbing onto the man with a glare.
"Doctor... tried to save even you!" Chopper growled out, rearing a fist back in anger, only to pause.
"Hmm?" Wapol hummed once he noticed that it seemed the reindeer wasn't going to hit him.
"I... I won't hit you... so leave this country!" Chopper declared angrily.
"What are you saying, Chopper?! You think he'll just listen to you?!" Doctorine shouted, her concern showing for the first time now.
"But... after all..." Chopper started, turning to look at Doctorine, only for Wapol to shoot a cannon in his face which sent him falling to the ground.
"Hey, annoying mouth," Luffy said from in front of the flag, a furious look on his face as he glared down at Wapol.
"Straw Hat!" Wapol said back with a frown.
"You were a fake pirate, right? You don't know what this pirate flag means because you were fake pirates who didn't even risk your own lives!" Luffy said, his tone calm and even in contrast to his rage-filled face.
"What that flag means, Straw Hat? Stupid pirate flags have no meaning! That's why you're hopeless!" Wapol laughed.
"What'd you say? A pirate flag isn't something that you can raise as a joke!" Luffy said, some of his anger slipping into his tone now.
"What an idiot! If it weren't for a joke, there's no way I, the king, would raise it! Don't protect that stupid flag anymore and let me knock it down!" Wapol shouted as he readied another cannonball.
"You won't knock this flag down!" Luffy declared as the shot fired, sending yet another cannonball his way. After yet another explosion, the smoke cleared away to show Luffy holding onto the pole of the flag, holding it into the air even as his skin had black marks all over it from the explosion. The only thing that really showed that he'd had any effect from the blast was the fact that Nami's coat was now missing a sleeve.
"See? You won't break this flag!" Luffy declared, which only angered Wapol more.
"I don't know who this pirate flag belongs to... but since this flag is a person's pledge to risk their life... it's not raised as a joke!" Luffy said, looking up to show everyone his face that was contorted in rage.
"This flag isn't something you can just break while laughing foolishly!" The words were shouted with such ferocity that Wapol and Chessmarimo both stumbled back at it.
"It won't break... Never... The skull is a mark of faith!" Luffy said, his voice much calmer now than it had been previously, yet his face still showed his anger. The emotions from below were mostly a mass of surprise, but the ones from Chopper were easily the strongest as he looked up at Luffy with wide eyes.
Smiling now, Luffy directed his attention solely to the doctor.
"Hey, reindeer," Luffy called down, only furthering Chopper's surprise.
"Huh?" He asked dumbly, not sure how to form proper words yet.
"I'm gonna beat these guys up now. What do you wanna do?" Luffy asked, recognizing that this wasn't exactly his fight to steal. While he had some disagreements- and that was putting it lightly- with Wapol previously, the empath could tell that Chopper had a much longer history with the man than he did.
"I..." Chopper trailed off, still trying to find the right words to say, but behind him, Wapol wasn't having that problem.
"What're you saying? You damn idiot! If you wanna protect that flag that bad, stay there forever to protect it!" The man shouted, aiming his canon towards Luffy once more.
"Why don't you stop... right there!" Sanji shouted before charging towards Wapol, only to falter as a pain shot through him.
"That's your backbone giving out. Only natural. You're moving around too much!" Doctorine said calmly from the castle's entrance. When she saw that Sanji was going to continue running regardless she ran after him, kicking him to the ground.
"Stop it! Doctors orders!" She barked as her foot was planted firmly on his back.
"What're you idiots doing?! Just stand there and watch! I'll blow him to bits along with that flag! Time to get blown away Straw Hat!" Wapol yelled with another laugh, clearly thinking that this next shot was going to end Luffy despite evidence suggesting otherwise.
"Stop it!" Chopper roared as he now charged at Wapol. From the top of the castle Luffy firmly planted the flag into the crumbling stone, still grinning.
"That's the idea! Get him, reindeer!" Luffy cheered, ignoring the anger rolling off of Wapol the best he could.
"Wapol-sama, watch out!" Chessmarimo shouted as they intercepted Choppers punch.
"Sorry. I won't let you lay your finger on Wapol-sama!" Chessmarimo laughed. After a pause, Chopper slowly reduced his size back to his normal form, frowning as he did so.
"Really, there are some strange creatures in this world. Seems like you're that 'yeti' the citizens got worked up about at one time. You must really have spent your whole life disliked by everyone. You poor monster. Why's a loner like you trying to save this country? Don't make me laugh!" Chessmarimo egged on with more laughter. Still, Chopper didn't back down from the insults despite his emotions telling Luffy that the words hurt him.
"Shut up! Even if I don't have friends, I can still fight! As long as Doctor's flag exists, I will..." Chopper trailed off, looking to the snowy ground beneath him.
"You do have friends!" Luffy shouted firmly from where he was now using the pirate flag to launch himself off of.
"I am your friend!" Luffy yelled before snapping back towards his arms and catapulting himself into the snow beside Chopper.
"Straw Hat!" Chopper said worried Luffy had hurt himself with that impact.
"Are you ok?!" He asked as the snow cloud cleared to show Luffy crouched, readjusting his hat with a grin.
"I'm just fine... since I'm a rubber man," Luffy told him, not looking up from the ground just yet.
"A rubber man?!" Chopper asked in disbelief, surprised about this new information.
"Hey, reindeer. Can you finish that guy?" Luffy asked next as he pointed to Chessmarimo.
"Someone like that is a piece of cake," Chopper told him, meaning his words completely.
"Then it's decided. My opponent is annoying mouth." Luffy said as he finally stood to face Wapol for the final time.
"How dare you, Straw Hat, flying around like that!" Wapol growled out angrily as he stared the smaller rubber man down.
"My names Tony Tony Chopper! It's a name that the world's greatest doctor gave me! Even if Doctor forgave you, I won't forgive you for laughing at how he lived!" Chopper yelled furiously, only making Luffys grin widen as he felt the conviction behind those words. With that, Chopper pulled out an orange ball which he called a rumble ball.
"The effects of the rumble ball lasts 3 minutes. I'll take you down in three minutes!" Chopper declared.
"Three minutes?! You can't defeat me at all, much less in three minutes!" Chessmarimo laughed in response.
"Three minutes? That's amazing!" Luffy said, believing wholeheartedly that Chopper could do it.
The fight commenced after that as Chopper at the ball as Chessmarimo aimed flaming arrows at him. Luffy watched in awe as Chopper transformed from one form to another, dodging Chessmarimos attacks effortlessly with his different forms.
At the castle entrance, Doctorine was sitting on Sanji's back to keep him from fighting, smiling proudly all the while.
As Chopper transformed over three times, he explained that the rumble ball allowed him four more transformations for a grand total of seven which shocked Chessmarimo and awed Luffy even more.
"A... A seven-form transforming interesting reindeer!" Luffy said as his eyes began sparkling and his smile grew.
"You bastard... What happened to your fight against me?!" Wapol asked in a rage at being ignored. Luffy snapped out of his awe immediately to turn a glare towards Wapol.
"Right. I'm mad at your annoying mouth." Luffy said, having forgotten Wapol was even there in favor of watching Choppers fight. Now that the man had demanded it though, Luffy gave him what he wanted as he lowered himself, getting ready to attack him.
"Don't think that someone like you could stop a king like me, Straw Hat!" Wapol shouted as he pointed his two cannon arms at the teen.
"I told you you'd regret trying to attack me earlier," Luffy told him in a low voice, glaring harshly at the man.
"Munch Munch..." Before Wapol could prepare whatever attack he was going to try, Luffy brought his fists back, covering them in shiny black haki.
"Gum Gum... Bazooka!" Luffy yelled, slamming his fists forward and pushing them into Wapols chest. For the fourth time, Wapol was sent flying into the air, but this time he wasn't saved by anyone seeing as Chessmarimo was focused on fighting Chopper at the moment. He was sent flying in much the same way Buggy had, the man disappearing into the sky with only a stream of blood following in his wake.
Turning, Luffy saw that Chopper was also finishing up his fight, readjusting his hat as Chessmarimo fell to the ground in defeat.
"Three minutes." Chopper said to himself. Seeing that he won, Luffy smiled widely and raised his fists in the air, cheering.
"All right, reindeer! You're pretty good, reindeer! Amazing!" Luffy praised, feeling the warm fuzzy feelings people felt from compliments fill the animal.
"Shut up!" Chopper yelled though he was blushing and smiling happily.
"Hey! Let go!" A familiar voice behind Luffy said.
"I got your back!" Another equally familiar voice replied. Turning, Luffy saw a metal box coming out of the ground that Zoro and Usopp were standing in front of, the sniper crouched behind Zoro and holding onto him.
"Hey, if you're scared, you can come later!" Zoro said as he tried pushing the long-nosed man off of him.
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I'm not scared! Because I'm-"
"Zoro! Usopp!" Luffy yelled as he ran over to them.
"Oh, Luffy," Zoro said, only to realize the man wasn't slowing down. He and Usopp screamed as the rubber teen crashed into them, knocking them all into the snow.
"You idiot! What'd you do that for?!" Zoro roared in anger, but Luffy only laughed.
"Oh, Vivi! You're here too!" Luffy said as he watched the princess join them on the mountain.
"How'd you guys get up here?" Luffy asked.
"I'm a brave man, Luffy! If I see a mountain that needs climbing, I climb it!" Usopp declared proudly, puffing out his chest as he said so.
"We came up by the ropeway, Luffy-san," Vivi answered truthfully.
"Are Nami-san and Sanji-san alright?" Vivi asked as Usopp wilted dejectedly.
"I'm fine, thank you for your worries Vivi-chan!" Sanji swooned from where Doctorine was still pinning him to the ground.
"Nami's fine too!" Luffy answered, which pleased the princess as she moved back towards the metal box.
"So who just went flying by us a minute ago?" Zoro asked as Usopp began ranting about the fights they got into on their way here, though Luffy could feel they were all lies.
"Oh, that was the annoying king guy," Luffy told him as Dalton came out of the box next, heavily injured and struggling to move.
"Y-you defeated Wapol?!" He asked, having heard the last of the conversation.
"Yup! Why?" Luffy asked, wondering how many people had come to the top of the mountain.
"So what about his two top men?" Dalton asked as he looked around.
"The reindeer beat them up," Luffy answered with a smile.
"Those two... A reindeer did...?" Dalton asked, not believing the captain's words at all.
"Oh yeah! Usopp listen! I found a new friend!" Luffy said, disregarding Dalton now as he interrupted Usopps storytelling.
"Hm? A friend?" Usopp asked, raising the goggles off his eyes.
"Reindeer..." Dalton murmured as they all turned to look at Chopper who was hiding the wrong way behind a tree nearby.
"Thank you," Dalton said as he fell to his knees, bowing to Chopper. Luffy could feel the gratitude pouring off the man and watched in confusion.
"Drum Kingdom... will definitely be reborn," Dalton said as tears fell. As he finished saying this, the rest of the citizens that had joined them ran out, guns in hand.
"Wh-what is that strange creature?!"
"A reindeer? No..."
"That's a... m-m-m-mons-"
"Hey, stop it!" Dalton said, stopping the crowd from saying anything else.
"A monster!" Usopp screeched in fear. His words were all it took as Chopper darted off into the trees, devastation and hurt flowing into Luffy as he did.
"Don't call him a monster! He's the new friend I was talking about!" Luffy yelled as he hit Usopp on the head.
"What?! That thing is?!" Usopp asked as he righted himself, eyes wide.
"He ran away again. Wait, monster! Hey! Hey, reindeer! Hey! Reindeer!" With that, Luffy and Chopper's chase began for yet another time that day as Luffy ran through the trees after the near crying reindeer.
"You're my friend! Hey! Reindeer! You're definitely my friend!" Luffy called out repeatedly in the hopes of diminishing the hurt from the reindeer. It seemed to work too as, what had been previously been pain and hurt, quickly turned to happiness and comfort as Choppers frown turned into a smile along with Luffys.
What had at first been a legitimate fear and attempt at distancing himself from Luffy was now nothing more than a game of tag as Luffy chased him through the trees, yelling for him to wait in between his laughter that Chopper happily joined in on.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Time passed and slowly the light-hearted chase became fearful once more as Chopper realized that Luffy wasn't letting up. The moon was up now and Luffy had lost Chopper for the moment but was following his scent closely. Soon enough, he realized Chopper was on the roof of the castle, but instead of rocketing himself up there, Luffy decided to stay where he was.
"Hey, reindeer! Let's be pirates together!" Luffy shouted up to him.
"Hey, Luffy. Just give it up. He hasn't shown up even after all your efforts to find him." Usopp said from where he was building a snowman nearby.
"He doesn't wanna be a pirate," Zoro said gruffly where he was sitting nearby as well.
"That's not true! I know he does! And I know where he's at too! I wanna take him with us!" Luffy said as he pointed at them.
"How do you know- right, emotions," Zoro said with a shrug, letting the argument go as a loss as he realized Luffy probably did know.
"Reindeer! Come out, reindeer!" He could feel Choppers conflicted feelings, the boy fighting with himself on whether he truly wanted to go or not. It seemed he finally came to a decision though as he climbed off of the roof and joined them on the ground.
"Ah! Reindeer!" Luffy said happily. At the castle entrance, Vivi and Nami were dragging Sanji out and stopped when they noticed what was happening.
"Hey, let's be pirates together! Okay?!" Luffy cheered, his fists in the air.
"It's not possible." Chopper said sadly, looking at the ground.
"Yes, it is since it's fun!" Luffy said.
"Hey, you don't make any sense!" Usopp chastised.
"But... But I'm a reindeer! I have antlers and hooves! I even have a blue nose! It's true... that I wanna be a pirate, but... I'm not even human! I'm a monster! I can't become your friend! So...! So I just came to say thank you... I do appreciate you guys... Thank you for asking me to join you. I'll stay here, but... one day... if you feel like it, stop by agai-"
"Shut up! Let's go!" Luffy roared, interrupting the end of Choppers speech. This made the smile Chopper had forced on his face to fall as tears welled up in his eyes, gratitude filling him.
"You don't ask people to join you by telling them to shut up." Zoro reprimanded, but no one listened as Chopper let out a loud wail.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
While Chopper said his goodbyes to Kureha, the Straw Hats waited outside the castle for him. Luffy and Usopp went to get the ropeway ready while Nami and Vivi talked about heading to Alabasta as soon as they could.
"Hey, he's coming...?! Hm?!" Zoro hummed as he saw just what was happening.
"What?!" Nami and Vivi said in surprise as they saw Chopper running their way while dragging a sled behind him as Kureha chucked weapons at him.
"What's going on?! He's being chased!" Vivi said fearfully as they all stood up.
"Hey! The ropeway is rea- Huh?" Usopp stopped when he also noticed what was going on, and feeling as well as hearing the commotion Luffy poked his head out to see what was happening.
"Everyone! Get on the sleigh! We'll go down the mountain!" Chopper yelled as he continued running.
"What?!" Everyone yelled as a mace flew right past Chopper, narrowly missing him.
They didn't hesitate to follow orders though as they all jumped into the sleigh. They weren't expecting Chopper to jump off the mountain, but when he landed on the ropeway safely and used that to pull the sleigh they let out a collective sigh of relief that they weren't going to actually sleigh down the steep mountain.
As Chopper ran and the crew tried getting over their surprise they were startled when a loud boom went off behind them. Chopper stopped so they could all see what was happening and were amazed when the sky turned pink, the snow turning pink as well from the light and looking like cherry blossoms falling.
Chopper couldn't help the tears that started to once again fall as he looked at the display, knowing exactly who was behind it as well as the meaning behind it.
A bit rushed there at the end but oh boy are these last few weeks of college going to be hectic! After that though it'll be smooth sailing and I'll have all the free time in the world to work on this story and give it the attention it deserves!
So, Chopper is officially a part of the crew and we'll be moving on to Alabasta next! I know a lot of you have some speculations on what may happen and who we may meet so I'm excited to finally show you all some of the bigger plans I have in store for this story. Alabasta has a few little hints to the bigger plot in it so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for them!
I don't have much more to say and I've got some papers due tomorrow that desperately need to be worked on, so as always, thank you for all of your support on this story! I'll see you all in two weeks with the next chapter!