Thank you all so much for your support in getting me to 200+ reviews - , IMayBeACatPerson, sarahgri99, Layla347, Thomas Drovin, buterflypuss, justlovereadin, MAJORMATT1234, and Gamelover41592. And a special thank you to myafroatemydog for reviewing just about every chapter of this story.

Also just looked back on the last chapters and holy grammar y'all, anybody have beta experience?

Just as Sunny and Chopper made it outside, they noticed Sanji, squaring off with two men-a large man in jester-like clothing they recognized as Chess, Whapol's right-hand man. The other man was clad in a black cloak and a black hard hat, carrying two-foot long pieces of rebar in each hand. He looked like a goth construction worker had clocked off his shift and come to fight in Whapol's army.

Sanji was opposing the strange duo but looked harried, like he'd been holding them off for a while but there was no end in sight. But even if Sanji defeated them, dozens of Whapol's soldiers were lined up behind him, and half a dozen more were coming up with every trip of the repaired gondola.

"Dark-dark ball!" The man in black called out. Just before he and Sanji were enveloped in it, both Whapol's men flicked down green goggles. "A ball of night-like darkness!"

Sunny's mouth twitched into a small smile. Darkness, was that all? Chopper in walk point followed him into the massive sphere. Sure enough, it was like twilight in the sphere. He felt the shift of someone moving fast, crunching snow.

"Damn it, enough with these games..." Sunny heard Sanji growl, ten feet to his left. He could just make out part of an outline of their chef, and Sunny reminded himself that darkness of night was not pitch-black. If Sanji had a moment to recollect himself he'd realize it wasn't as much as a handicap as he originally thought. The biggest issue seemed to be that Chess was using arrows and it was nearly impossible to sense them before they landed. Sunny took care to stay behind the man, who was somehow seeing in the darkness without issue.

Sunny heard a crunch, a cry of "Arm Point!" and an impact to his right followed with a 'hiiii-yah!" that seemed to come from Chopper. The supposed dark-dark devil fruit user screamed in surprise and landed close to Sunny, who ignited and prepared a hail of fiery embers. To his surprise, the man in black let out another cry and seemed to pull in on himself before Sunny even loosed his ember.

"My eyes!" He cried. Sunny tilted his head in confusion despite himself. Well, that was new.

"Get it together, Kuromas-aaah!" The loud voice of Chess came, punctuated by a sharp crack of a bone that could only have been caused by Sanji.

"Keep griping, I'll kick your ass."

Kuromasa tried to slink away into cover again, but Sunny honed in on the sound of the rebar clinking against ice for a moment as he quietly stepped away. It was easy enough to pursue. By the sound of the other side, Chopper had located his opponent again and was delivering blows with more strength than Sunny had expected from Chopper.

Sunny tracked Kuromasa's movements and charged up another blast of embers. The good thing about the two of us is...we don't need light to know where you are!" And the fire bolts went sailing straight into Kuromasa's face. He screamed again and the darkness bubble around them faded away, leaving him on the ground, green goggles flung away and him scrubbing at his eye. Sanji, one foot led in the air as if preparing the kick, his body littered in thin cuts from arrows, but was still five feet away from Chess. Chess was flanked by not any of the Chopper forms Sunny had seen before. This one was tall and lithe, but with massively muscular arms, which were positioned by Chess's back. Had Chopper evolved?

Across the field, Luffy was fighting, holding a thin, uprooted tree between himself and Whapol's teeth. It was the same tree Sunny had seen reaching the top of the climb, Sunny noted with a bit of sadness.

"Che," Sanji said, turning to look at Kuromasa. "You're mine."

Sunny backed away from the fight and focused on where Luffy was. How many minutes had it been? One or two, maybe? His feet were already going numb but his constant fire was beating back some of the painfully cold air.

Chess had another idea and broke away from Chopper before the deer could lash out again, pulling, and firing a flaming arrow and pointing it at the flying flag on the castle's roof. It was a pirate flag, one Sunny hadn't noticed before, the jolly roger wearing Chopper's hat with scattering cherry blossoms in the background. Was Chopper a pirate? Or was it something like Usopp in the Usopp pirates?

Sunny realized he hadn't been thinking about the right thing as the arrow was loosed with a heavy thwack. Not when he heard the Chopper's horrified cry pierce the cold air. Sunny didn't need to see his face to feel the aura of devastation pouring out of him like a teabag in hot water before the ghost pepper sauce was poured in. In the way Luffy always acts, he was moving before he'd fully assessed the situation, throwing the tree at Whapol to create space and rocketing to the roof in a flash, the same moment the fire arrow connected. There was an explosion that nearly caused Sunny to jump out of his skin. Followed by a scared whimper from Chopper and a cry of shock from Sanji.

Chess started to laugh but Sunny didn't react other than a sigh of relief. The billowing smoke coming from the roof may have been opaque for the others, but Sunny could make out the silhouette of his captain from inside the expanding smoke, and something he was holding, too.

The smoke was pushed away by the air and fanned by the still-waving flag. The sleeve of Nami's coat had been scorched off but the flag was unburnt and Luffy was grinning.

"CHOPPER!" He yelled. "JOIN MY CREWWWWWWW!"

Chopper's hooves were covering the deer mouth, and he reverted into his small brain-point form, mouth opening and closing ineffectually. "B-but..."

"CHOPPPPERRRR! BE MY NAKAMA!"

Finally, the doctor was able to bring his cracked voice above the wind and yelled back to the pirate captain. "Bu-but I'm a monster!"

"SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE!" He raised the flag and brought it back down with enough force to send roof tiles clattering and wedge the metal pole into the roof slightly askew, but holding fast. He cracked his knuckles. "SANJI, TAKE CARE OF THAT IDIOT!"

"You got it, Luffy," Sanji smirked and their captain jumped back off the roof to finish his fight with Whapol. It didn't last long. On the ropes, Whapol tried to skirt around to Chess and Kuromasa. Chopper and Sanji kept the two busy while Sunny, peppering gouts of ember into the solider's ranks.

New arrivals on the gondola, taking it back down rather than join the fray as they saw one solider after another yelling and rolling around in the snow to put out fires and soothe burns. Two lost their coats, one his pants, now in the back of the formation, shivering helplessly in his underwear.

"Demon!" One yelled, tripping over another to get away to escape a volley of ember sent at his feet.

Whapol only got sloppier in frustration as his attempts to get to the others were foiled over and over again. Then Kuromarimo, covered in soot and burns, half his afro was missing.

"King Whapol, I'm here. Let me help you!" he yelled, coughing some of the smoke from his lungs. Whapol's massive metal grin widened.

"Kuromarimo, my loyal solider, come here."

"Hey-wait-" Luffy began to protest. Kuromarimo stumbled over to his king's side just as Whapol' mouth seemed to unhinge and swallow the man whole. He swallowed with a gulp and the battlefield seemed to go silent except for the punishing wind. Luffy sobered. Tipped his hat to shade his eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that."

The battle didn't last long after that, even with Whapol's increase in power, it was nothing compared to the Straw Hat captain with a grudge to settle. Four minutes after Sunny and Chopper entered the fray, Luffy kicked Whapol so hard, his steel jaw cracked as he was sent flying in the air.

Luffy grinned, wiped sweat off his forehead and started to lay in on the soldiers. Sunny followed where Whapol had fallen with morbid interest. He ran up to the side of the cliff after seeing a blur of something fall that way. Sunny leaned over the sheer edge to see the massive man hanging on a thick root just a foot under the edge of the cliff. He was straining as if he were desperately trying to pull his other arm to reach but couldn't manage. Sunny was struck with the realization that the man who had victimized the entire country and hurt Chopper and Dr. Kureha was completely helpless. Even Sunny could defeat him at that moment.

"Eergh," The man groaned feet scrabbling, but unable to make purchase on the icy wall. Sunny watched on. One ember would be all it took to protect the country from him. Who knew how many causalities he'd made? When he'd taken all the doctors for himself, how many people died of an illness that could have been cured? As he stared down at the man, who finally seemed to focus on the unassuming creature.

"You, go fetch someone to get me, shoo, go!" Whapol ordered. "Hey, I'm your king you little beast! I'll have you and your friends rewarded!" Despite his words, the feeling of dishonesty and greed and gluttony poured off this man in waves at this distance, making his stomach turn and warm with energy. He spread his front legs to stabilize in the snow instinctually and steam began to run from his nostrils and mouth from his heavy breaths as his head spun with as he wondered if he was really doing the right thing.

Then a black sheathe slid in front of his face, causing Sunny to jerk up and see Zoro, wearing a green coat, slightly pink in the nose, unhurt but serious. "That's not our place, Sunny. Our captain defeated him, if he falls now, that's not our concern, but if you attack him now, that's execution- I won't allow it." Zoro frowns. He's standing as a pillar for Luffy's morals as first mate and Sunny recognizes easily that there will be no leeway with what Zoro is warning him.

Whapol could live and attack Drum-after all, he was the monster who ate his crew, he could live and kill again. And if someone like him had a shot at the hunters who killed his mother before it happened and spared them, he couldn't have forgiven them. Zoro was tense beside him, rightfully understanding that Sunny's inaction was not acquiescence as Sunny battled with his thoughts. What was the chance Whapol would live? How much faster than him was Zoro? What would Luffy think? Would Chopper hate him for even considering this? Sunny's shaking got worse as he screwed his eyes shut. Doctor Kureha planned to do it to save her people. Here was a chance even he was strong enough to take. His breath steamed heavy in the air like he was one of Sanji's cigarettes burning out.

Zoro would never strike him down but-if Sunny did, he'd hurt his sleuth anyway. He'd hurt Luffy and the rest and Chopper and even Zoro.

...Since when was he someone who worried about the bigger picture? His mom would have killed this man but Sunny's goal was to protect the Strawhats, not this town. He would hurt those he needed to protect if he tried. He had to trust that Zoro knew what he was doing, even if Sunny couldn't see the reasoning behind it.

Decision made, Sunny took a robotic step back from the edge. Zoro's frame relaxed almost to the way he held himself on the Merry and he gave a grunt of approval. He reached down to scoop Sunny up, stiffening slightly when he felt the shaking coming from the small fire-type. It was for the best he was being picked up, he was beginning to feel dizzy. Chopper had been right to warm me not to spend more than five minutes outside, Sunny thought as he instinctually pawed at Zoro for warmth, and maybe for forgiveness.

"Shit," the swordsman said lightly, tucking Sunny into his haramaki and granting the fire-type both.

With Zoro had come Vivi, Usopp, and Carue. After their victory against Whapol, the soldiers had fled in fear and the group had been shuffled back into the castle and the medical room, which was the only room in the castle with burning fireplaces, and hurriedly passed out blankets and hot tea to the pirates. Zoro was the only one who hadn't accepted, and was instead watching the tiny reindeer work on bandaging any injuries that had come about.

Luffy had already introduced him as the crew's doctor, which sent Chopper into a panic. Sunny had to wonder what happened to his own pirate crew if they had the flag there on their castle.

Doctor Kureha was there, mixing herbs in the corner but her skin has gone ashen. Sunny's keen sense of smell picked up the reek of illness on her as sure as another might discern the color orange. Her face crinkled more as she heard the crew squabble and argue, from if forcing someone to join the crew was a sound recruitment option and leading into if people in winter islands can really sleep without dying.

At this Kureha's fragile patience snapped-he'd clearly been asleep on this island, was this rubber dumbass really so dense? She leveled her pestle at the group. "You pirates better shut up and let the sick rest-no one is leaving this place without being fully healed and without paying my extravagant fee for risking my life treating you! And Chopper, once they go, we'll work on drilling vervain and thyme uses 'til you get it right! I left all your coats outside the room in case the room gets cold, but don't even think about leaving!" At that, Chopper's mouth opened in a little 'o' and his eyes teared slightly.

He ran to hug Kureha's leg, screwed up his eyes and shouted. "I'll be here when you come back to this room, Doctorine, and I'll practice everything you've taught me over these six years and become the doctor who can cure anything in the world!"

Doctor Kureha waited a moment before she gave a 'hfmp,' pushed him off and stiffly left the room with the mortar and pestle she had been working with.

Luffy shared a smile with Sanji and Nami.

Sunny panicked, deciding everyone was acting too calm at this. "She's not going to let Chopper leave with us! Is she really going to make Nami stay here too?"

"Sunny, chill, what are you doing?" Nami asked as she watched the little pokemon furiously scrabble his paws against the mattress of her bed as if digging. Oh, she noted. He actually is digging. Threads and feathers were being ripped out as he dug a hole straight through the sheet and into the top of the mattress. She scooped him up and set him on the ground.

"Well, we better listen to what that old lady says," Zoro smirked. Sunny's eyes went wide. What?

"Shishishi, no choice."

Sunny turned to Chopper in desperation. "No, come with us! Even though it's wet, the ocean's really amazing!"

Chopper looked with a blank expression at Sunny for a moment before he jumped back in shock. "Oh no! He totally doesn't get it!"

Sunny realized he had the crew's attention again.

"Sunny did you think we were going to leave Chopper behind?" Nami asked gently.

Sunny tilted his head, trying to calm down as he nodded affirmatively. "Isn't...isn't that what she said?" A few of the crew sweat-dropped at what Sunny had clearly missed in their conversation.

"We're not leaving our doctor behind!" Luffy agreed.

"It was really obvious that wasn't what she meant, Sunny," Usopp scolded, chopping a hand down in the air in the 'no' motion.

Zoro grabbed the coats and started tossing them to their prospective owners while Nami was given a thick wool traveling cloak presumably provided by Doctor Kureha.

Sunny shook his head in helpless confusion. If that's not what she meant why had she said it..?

Chopper was smiling to himself. "The herbs she mentioned, thyme and vervain symbolize courage and good fortune, and I memorized their uses in my first weeks with her."

Sunny realized, she really was giving it all away, letting Chopper go in such a strange way even when she smelled the way she did. Chopper didn't know, did he? The thought had him running out the door and following the sickly smell of rot. If Chopper had really been studying with her for six years, Chopper was much older than him. So why did he still want to protect him from not saying goodbye properly to a mother as if he were a younger..?

He found the room she had gone into-it wasn't far- and rushed in. The woman was even paler in this light and her shrewd eyes trained on him even though she didn't move. Sunny had already seen what she'd been trying to hide. Presumably, she hadn't let Chopper see, or he would have known. She had her shirt pulled up, exposing the deep shrapnel punctures in her chest and ribs, the skin around it was green and sickly with lines leading from it like veins crossing her chest, reaching her shoulder, over her heart, across her stomach. The smell burned his nose. It smelled like death.

"How are you still-?" Sunny cut himself off even if he was sure she wouldn't understand. Could she not cure herself? Or was this a fatal wound that she'd been skilled enough to keep herself moving while Chopper still needed her?

She let her shirt drop down after Sunny had taken a good look. "Looks like you're too curious for your own good, little rodent. Or are you offering to stay here so I can experiment on you?"

Sunny didn't move.

She returned to the ground concoction in the mortar and spooned it into a glass tank with clear liquid. It combined to become vibrant pink. Sunny's eyes then shifted to the still-full vial of liquid on the table-the one Kureha had been going to give Whapol as a 'cure'. Doctor Kureha noticed. "This isn't poison like I led you all to believe." She unstoppered it and drank it. "It's a remedy for the common cold, which he had. I told him he was sick and I had the cure, not that he wasn't going to recover."

Sunny felt as if something inside him collapsed like a poked balloon. He'd thought the doctor had been willing to kill to protect but even she hadn't stooped to that level. He needed to reign in the cowardly side of him that was too scared of the aftermath to take a risk. Even now, he didn't know what had become of Whapol, only that he wasn't in the spot he and Zoro had left him. Doctor Kureha set the vial down and spoke again.

"Chopper was ostracized by his herd once he ate the hito-hito fruit. Not only did he look different, he aged slower. He was still a fawn when he saw his year mates get older and lead the herd themselves. Neither humans nor reindeer would accept him, except one quack doctor, Hiriluk. Now I'm telling you this because it's important and you were rude enough to be asleep when I first told this story. Hiriluk loved that boy but he was a quack who hurt more people than he healed. Che. But he got sick and had less than a year to live. A foolish mistake caused by Hiriluk had Chopper accidentally poison him. Who would think that the skull and crossbones would be a good thing but a son of a pirate-lover like Hiriluk? He had hoped that his sakura powder could heal him but he didn't have time. He died asking me to finish that foolish powder that couldn't heal even him.

"I took Chopper under my wing and taught him real medicine. Not to say he ever stopped trying to make sakura powder work. The boy is too naïve. His crazy dream is to find a cure-all to treat the world. I'm telling you because you might be the one who can see eye to eye with Chopper."

She slid her shrewd eyes to assess Sunny, who was just watching and listening in rapt silence. She seemed satisfied with that. "You can't tell Chopper. If he's a good enough doctor, he'll know, if not, then he's better off never knowing what happened to me."

Sunny felt queasy and miserable. Then, from her perspective, he was the best one to find out about her secret. After all, who could he tell?

Kureha watched for a moment more before nodding to the door in dismissal.

"Take care of my son."

The Strawhat pirates head down the mountain on Chopper's sleigh as he expertly ran across the thin cable as if they were flying. Vivi checked in and thanked the commander of the town's guard for their help in escaping being confined by Whapol's soldiers. Dalton cried tears of joy when Vivi told him of their victory and Zoro cut down the lush purple banner reading 'King Whapol Royal Court' to reveal 'Town Hall' again. The pirates left town before any fanfare could begin in earnest, boarded their ship, and raised anchor. As the Merry caught the first oceanic gales of cool wind, an explosion of vibrant pink plumed from the top of the Drum Rockies, cascading around until they extended like glittering sakura blossoms around the pillars. Chopper watched, hooves to his mouth in awe as Luffy whooped and hollered at the magnificent sight. Sunny had to admit it was the most surreal and beautiful thing he'd ever seen as he stood side-by-side their crew's new doctor.

Then he heard Chopper start to cry. "D-Doctorine thank you for-for e-everything. I'll become a great doctor and f-find a cure for all diseases in your honor. I p-promise you."

Sunny went still beside him. He knew? He knew but he had pretended not to so Doctor Kureha could be happy while he left? Was it possible? He felt his own eyes prickle with something like relief that this secret wasn't his alone.

Doctor Kureha had said- 'If he's a good enough doctor, he'll know.'

She was right-he is a good doctor, Sunny thought. He's closer to his dream than he realizes. Sunny sat up on his hind legs and leaned into Chopper's side. She'd lived a long life, saved many people, passed on her knowledge to her son, maybe she was smiling down from where she was at them now? After all, he hadn't sensed any negative emotions from her, rather the lack of them. The absence of emotions Sunny could sense, it meant, despite it all-"I think she's really happy right now." Sunny told his friend.

Chopper cried harder, sagging slightly against Sunny, as his eyes blurred with tears, turning the falling sakura into a blurry pink shape. He held the rim of Doctor Hiriluk's hat as they both watched great pink sakura light float down to the town below.

Doctorine's job was done, even as she poured the liquid into the explosives and walked outside without her coat to watch the explosion above. She sat, then laid down in the trampled snow to watch as the explosion of light and gas poured outward. She liked to imagine the Strawhat ship was watching from the water and Chopper could see the quack doctor's gift, the one Chopper had been trying to perfect...her eyes fought to stay open to watch the lights. What a beautiful thing to be the last she'd see. She'd seen so very much in her 139 years, but somehow it never seemed to be enough. But...if her son could pass on that knowledge and treat people, she'd be damned if it wasn't worth it. Her eyes closed as the snow fell on her cold cheeks and she felt her heart slow just as the petals started to rain down. Her light blonde hair splayed around her head in the snow, as tiny droplets of pink dropped down on her quiet form, there was a small smile on her old lips.

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Her eyes opened again to a white sky.

"So this is heaven, huh? It's shitty, didn't expect it to be this cold. Guess it must be hell." She pulled herself onto her elbows and took a look at the ground, covered in pink. Her stomach wound pulled at her side. She froze. Her shaking hand pulled up her shirt, soaked in the diluted sakura powder and examined what was below. The wounds were still as jagged and unhealed as before, but the green veins stretching across her chest and torso were gone. The smell of necrosis on muscle faded, the wound sterilized. Her eyes teared up as she pushed herself to a seated position, looking in awe, even with her cold-stiffened fingers. "The poison, the poison I couldn't cure..."

She sucked in a deep breath and shouted as loudly as she could, to the mountain, to the lapahns, to Big Horn, to the Strawhats and Chopper in the ocean, to Quack Hiriluk too. "CHOPPER YOU FOOL, YOU DID IT YOU CURED THE POISON, DAMMIT." Cold tears tracked down her weathered skin as she remembered the last moments Hiriluk had invested in taking the sakura powder to reverse the poison. All the long nights Chopper had labored over the ingredients trying to make something of his father's legacy. She covered her mouth to stop herself from yelling any further as she watched the far waves that had taken that silly boy farther into the world he'd change.