Edit: I've rewritten parts of this chapter as Mavado's review helped me see some mistakes I had made. Thank you once again, Mavado.
The little reindeer let out a sigh of relief as he sank down against the wall next to the plank bed where the Captain finally had stopped tossing and turning. Luffy's fever was still dangerously high, but now he was sleeping quietly. The doctor leaned his head in his hooves and let out a loud sob. He was tired and terrified and wanted nothing else than to wake up and find that it was all just a bad dream. That they hadn't been arrested by the Marines, but were safe in the royal palace in Alabasta with Vivi, waiting for the feast they had been promised after their victory.
He must have fallen asleep, because he woke up with a jerk and looked around, his back and neck aching from the awkward pose he had been sleeping in.
The Captain had got up from the plank bed and was standing by the bars of the cell. Eyes widening, the doctor got up and hurried over to the man, feeling a spark of hope ignited in his chest. He could hardly hold back a nervous giggle; the Captain looked a bit funny without his hat on his head. But thinking of the missing hat made the doctor keep the giggle back without any problems.
As he got up next to the Captain, he could see that the man's cheeks still were flushed with fever and his eyes were glassy under heavy eyelids. The doctor tugged at the Captain's arm, almost flinching as the man turned around with a strange look in his glassy eyes.
"You… You shouldn't be out of bed, Luffy," the doctor tried to persuade the Captain to go back to sleep, even though he had a feeling that he just as well could have asked the metal bars to dance a polka.
"They're not here, Chopper…" the Captain said, his voice monotonous and slow, as if he was talking in his sleep. "I must find them. We have to find them all."
"Luffy…"
The strange look in his eyes didn't change as he looked directly into the doctor's eyes, almost scaring the reindeer out of his wits by doing so.
"I want my nakama," he mumbled, leaning against the bars of Seastone with his head tilted back. His right hand was clutching his left wrist just below the black cross that was drawn on his skin. His grip wasso tight that his knuckles turned white.
The doctor tugged at his Captain's arm again.
"You still have a fever. You're not fighting until it goes away. As it is now, Sanji could fry eggs on your forehead."
The metaphor would have been funny if they hadn't been in the dank dungeon with the water dripping down the mossy stonewalls. Chopper gave up a muffled sob as he once again tugged at the Captain's arm, feeling the limb stretch and snap back in place as he did so. But the man didn't react; he just stared blankly into space with those half-shut, glassy eyes that didn't seem to belong to him at all.
"I want my nakama…" he repeated.
The reindeer growled. He knew that the Captain still was dazed by his fever, but he wasn't going to listen to the nonsense any longer. Growing to his human form, he grabbed the feverish man by the shoulders and turned him away from the energy-draining bars.
"I am your nakama, Luffy!" he said loudly, trying to find the real Luffy behind the mists in the dull eyes. "You chose me to join your family back on Drum Island . Or don't I count as family yet? After all, I'm just a talking reindeer with a blue nose. A real monster, right?"
He felt a sting of guilt as he saw the fog lift a little from the Captain's eyes and let go of the man's shoulders before he returned to his normal form again.
"I'm sorry…" he mumbled and climbed up on the chair that was standing right next to the table with all the ingredients. He could feel the Captain's eyes on him, but pointed in the direction of the plank bed. "Go back to bed. Your fever won't go down if you continue to walk bare-footed on the cold floor."
"I never get sick," Luffy said, and now his voice had lost some of the monotonous tone even though he still sounded weary. "I'm just hungry, that's why it hurts. My treasures are gone, I'm tired, and I want to get OUT OF HERE!"
He furiously slammed his fists into the bars of the cell, and was about to do the same with his feet when his eyes rolled back, showing nothing but the whites, and he sunk down to the floor and lay there without moving.
The doctor had jumped behind the table when the Captain lashed out at the bars and was shivering as he watched the man fall to the floor. At first, he was immobilized by his fear that the Captain would get up again and this time turn his anger and desperation towards the doctor himself.
But then his animal instincts made way for the spirit of the doctor in him, and he got out from his hiding place, hurrying to check on the fallen man. Luckily, the Captain's fever hadn't risen anymore, but it was still far too high. The doctor grew to human size, scooped up the unconscious Captain and carried him back to the plank bed. As he reached out to pull the blanket up to the man's chin, he felt guilty for yelling at the Captain.
He had seen both men and women act as if they were insane when under the influence of high fever or delusions. And even if Luffy normally acted more like a superhuman, it wasn't strange that he was confused. He had said that he never got sick, so his confusion and increased desperation could easily be caused by him not being used to have a high fever.
Turning back to his normal form, he walked back to his table and put some dried herbs in his mortar. Grinding them absentmindedly, he listened to the sound of the water dripping from the walls and the steady rhythm of the Captain breathing.
If he only could find a way to get the cage open; then he could try to find the others, even if he had to carry Luffy on his back all the way through the Marine base.
His eyes widened. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that before?
Bouncing off the chair, he pushed it aside so that he could reach the blue backpack that was hidden under the table. Ripping the bag open, he searched through it, putting the different bottles and boxes with medicines on the floor. But his excitement faded as the bag gradually was emptied and the pile of jars and boxes by his feet grew larger. Finally, he turned the bag upside down and shook it in a desperate attempt to find what he was searching for.
Then a frightening image came to his mind. A Marine soldier looking through his bag, removing all scalpels, needles and medicine that looked suspicious, among them a small round pill…
Perfect.
The reindeer sighed and started to put the things back in the bag when he felt eyes in the back of his head. He turned around and found Luffy lying on his back on the plank bed, his eyes open and looking directly at the doctor. Flinching, the reindeer jumped to his feet and stared at the Captain.
"Luffy, I didn't notice that you woke up!"
"What are you doing?" the Captain asked, his voice sounding more like his normal voice again. Maybe he was feeling better; the fever could finally be fading away. The doctor couldn't hide the big smile on his face when he answered.
"N-nothing, I was just looking for my Rumble Ball. I think the Marines took it…"
"That thing that makes you change into those other forms?"
The doctor looked up at the Captain, slightly amazed. In a way, he hadn't thought that the man's short attention span allowed him to remember more than the names of his crewmembers or the things that was essential for his own survival, such as his inability to swim or the way his attacks were performed. But he started to understand that there had to be more to the man than that. He returned from his thoughts when Luffy continued:
"Does it look something like this? I found it on the floor a while ago and thought it was candy, but I saved it for later because I wasn't feeling hungry…"
The man pulled out a small round object from his pocket and held it out towards the doctor, who immediately recognized it. His face cracked up in another huge smile.
"My Rumble Ball!" he cried out and ran up to the plank bed, taking the ball from the Captain's hand. He wasn't even discouraged by its sticky surface that had attracted more than one ball of lint and strands of black hair; he was so happy that the Marines hadn't taken it.
"Now let's see if I can get us out of here…" he muttered as he picked the largest balls of lint off the sticky ball.
Plopping the sphere into his mouth, he crunched it up and felt the effects tack place almost immediately. Just as he was about to change form, he heard Luffy's voice behind him.
"Reindeer…"
Blinking, the doctor looked at the Captain, feeling the countdown slowly decrease his three minutes towards zero. The Captain was looking and sounding tired again, but the smile on his face was as bright as it was genuine.
"You've always been one of us. Even before we met, you were one of us. We just didn't know about it yet, you and me."
A sudden realization came to the doctor. He ignored the mental countdown for a moment, knowing what consequences it could bring.
"You knew it from the beginning, didn't you?" he whispered. "Even when you and Sanji wanted to cook and eat me, you knew that I would follow you in the end. And maybe not just me. You knew that the others would follow you as well… didn't you?"
The only sound that came from the Captain was a light snore. The doctor smiled and turned away from the sleeping man. He knew that he wouldn't ask those questions again, because the moment he had asked them, he had been sure that he already knew the answer to them.
Two minutes left.
"Brain Point," the reindeer whispered. He didn't change his appearance, but he could feel his mind focus harder than ever. Putting his arms out in front of him, the points of his hooves against each other, creating a diamond-shaped space between them, he turned to one of the corners of the cell.
"Scope."
He could almost feel his brain work as he analyzed the bars of metal that kept them prisoners inside the cell. There had to be a weak point somewhere, not even Seastone could be indestructible. A loose bolt or a weak weld was all he needed. But the cell was annoyingly well-built, he had to admit that. Focusing harder, he turned around slowly, his brain working like never before while the clock slowly counted down. This was taking far too long; if he didn't find the weak point soon, he wouldn't have enough time to use it to his advantage.
Then, he saw it. The way the door was placed and the way it titled ever so little to the side.
"Weak hinges! Arm Point!"
His arms grew in length and almost all his strength was concentrated in his large arm muscles as he raced up to the door and slammed his large hooves into the right side of the door, causing the metal to vibrate violently. Pulling back, he repeated the attack, feeling the metal drain his energy for every punch. The feeling of being under water rushed over him as he kept attacking the side of the door and he fought the panic that boiled inside him and refused to give up. The effects of the Rumble Ball would wear off in fifty-five seconds and when it did, the chances of getting out would be reduced to practically nothing.
Over and over again, he slammed his hooves into the metal, hearing that metallic clatter and the creaking from the hinges that didn't seem to be as affected by his fierce attacks as he had hoped they would be. Just as he was about to give up and let the time run out, he felt someone coming up next to him, and when he looked up, he saw the Captain standing there, a determined look on his face and his whole body flushed with fever.
Twenty seconds.
The Captain stretched out his arms behind him, let them snap back and hit the metal bars with horrendous force. As he prepared another attack, Chopper could see the light frown on the Captain's face; showing that he also felt the effects of the Seastone. This only made the doctor focus even harder. The Seastone was not going to break them.
Ten seconds.
Come on now, break… Chopper thought as he felt time running out. Break before it's too late.
He could feel his muscles starting to go numb from hitting the bars and gathered all the strength he had left. The faint smell of blood almost caught his attention, but the doctor took a deep breath and aimed to slam both his hooves against the bars at the same time, screaming out his frustration as he did so.
Five seconds.
The doctor could vaguely hear the Captain cry out when he also made one final attempt, and he didn't see the Captain's hands hit the metal at the same time his own hooves hit it, but he could clearly hear the creak from the bolts as the hinges gave up and broke.
The pirates were thrown forwards as the door flew open and they landed on the floor in the hall outside the cell while the door slammed into the side of the cell, wobbled for a second or two before it fell over and landed on the stone floor with a loud slam, only a few millimeters from the reindeer's side.
As the time of the Rumble Ball ran out, Chopper felt his body returning to his normal form. His body ached and his head felt awkwardly enlarged. He wasn't completely sure that they actually had managed to open the door, but when he opened his eyes and looked up, he could see the door lying on the floor right next to him.
"We did it…" he whispered. "Luffy…"
He looked around and found his Captain lying on the floor to his left. The man was breathing fast, holding one of his hands pressed lightlyagainst his stomach, a small trickle of blood running between his fingers. But he was smiling and reached out his other hand towards the reindeer.
Chopper looked at him and clapped his hoof against the palm of the Captain's outstretched hand even though the sight of the blood made him worried. He was starting to regain his strength, but they didn't have much time. The Marines couldn't possibly have missed the deafening noise the door had made as it fell.
Scrambling to his feet, the little reindeer gathered the most valuable medicines in the backpack. Growing to his large human form, he kneeled by his Captain, silently offering to carry the man on his back. The Captain nodded once, reaching out his hand towards the doctor.
"We're getting out of here now. To find our family." Chopper said quietly and took Luffy's hand.
Leaving the cell and risk to run into countless Marines before Luffy recovered was enough to leave the reindeer shaking with terror. But he hauled the man up on his back, telling him to hold on and felt secure in a strange way when he felt the man's arms lock tightly around his neck.
With the Captain on his back, Chopper left the cell and headed for the stone stairs that led to the next floor.
Reeeh, this chapter turned out longer than I intended… It just kept on going and going and going until I never thought it would end… I think the next chapter will be short, but it will have Zoro in it…
FieryKitsune – I try to keep on writing this story while I'm still inspired. I've never written a story this long before, and I actually think that I wouldn't be able to write pairings, except maybe friendship. Hmm, yes… I've seen that Zoro's name spelled with R's instead of L's. It's tricky with the l and r…
Jaelle – I've also got the feeling that Sandai was made for Zoro. I was so impressed by the scene where he tests his compatibility with the cursed sword. You have a point when saying that Tashigi might let her personal opinion cloud the voices of the swords. I do believe that it can be true.
