A/N: So Copper is now part of the crew. This came more easily than I had feared it would. The last chapter kind of solidified a thought I had in the back of my head for a while for this fic, looking not just at the relationship between Luffy and Zoro, but at crew dynamics as seen by various crewmembers. This means that this fic may go on longer than I originally thought, but I'm still enjoying it.
As ever thanks for all the faves and follows.
Queen Lily Tiger Ellyessa: Thanks. Yes, poor Sanji.
Ilovecartonsgirl: Thank you, I hope you continue to love them.
WinglessCrows: Thanks.
Arxhaelogist: Thanks, I particularly like when they react like this even though they logically know that Zoro isn't always the best person to judge trouble.
Ki Ken Tai Ichi: Thanks. Yeah, I love Thriller Bark too, but it seems a bit late in the story for that realisation for Sanji, even though he really doesn't like it at all.
Chopper still having trouble believing that he was really there, that he was really on a pirate ship as a crew member. Let alone that he was the ship doctor, at least he was now that the captain and the rest of the crew was aware that he was a doctor. It was almost too much to take in at once.
He remembered Luffy protecting the doctor's flag, his flag, when knew so little of who he was and the way he wanted to look after his friends, the lengths he went to in order to get them help. The way he didn't care that Chopper was a monster and in fact referred to himself as one. It was almost too much to believe, but that was only his introduction to Luffy.
The rest of the crew was another issue. Nami seemed nice enough, the first to acknowledge him as a doctor and was willing to help him settle in. Sanji was a little scary, with him constantly referring to Chopper as the emergency food supply. Usopp was fun, always willing to play and tell good stories. Vivi was kind and interesting, a princess who was trying to save her country, so different to the only royalty that Chopper had ever known. But Zoro was the one that he had been most concerned about on boarding the ship, with him smelling so like steal, blood and pain.
Chopper's first sight of Zoro may have had something to do with his wariness of him, with him in the uniform of Warpol's men. Who could really blame him for that after everything Warpol had done? But as they say, first impressions last, even if the ridiculous circumstances behind that outcome was explained as a joke to the rest of the crew.
But over the last few days Chopper had been slowly getting used to the way things were in the crew. Noticing many different things about how each of his new crewmates. He knew that Nami could sense a storm before there was any real indication that it was coming. Sanji may mutter about the male crew members but always ensured that they had more than the minimum amount of nutrients for them to be productive on the ship. Usopp may be a bit of an exaggerator but was always able to read the emotional state of each of the crew and modify stories to help their moods. Vivi was holding up well, but she was really worried about the situation in Alabasta. Zoro liked to take naps wherever and whenever, often when everyone else thought he should be awake, but would jump in to help when he was really needed. Luffy was often a hyperactive ball of fun and trouble but could get even Zoro to play when he really wanted.
The incident that Chopper pin-pointed to truly start him feeling comfortable with being a part of the crew and fully accepting the fact that Luffy really accepted that Chopper may be a monster but they could be friends anyway was when one morning Chopper had come up to the deck early in the morning, before the sun had risen. He had found a shirtless Zoro easily lifting weights that Chopper's training said should be considered to be too heavy for the human body to lift safely, and showing scars from wounds that looked like they could have been life threatening. Chopper had not wanted to distract the man and cause him to drop the weight and so had sat quietly and watched, trying to apply the medical knowledge he had to what he was seeing. He had continued to sit there until Usopp had come up on deck with his sketchbook and almost tripped over him. He must have noticed Chopper's subject of interest because he had joined him and started telling stories of the Demon of the East Blue, a monster who hunted pirates and brutally with his three swords. The sun had risen by the time the stories had changed to tell of how this demon had joined another monster, a rubberman, and saved an island with a witch and a heroic marksman and gained a ship.
It was as Sanji called the breakfast was ready, and Zoro put down his weights that Chopper had realised that the stories that Usopp had been telling lacked his usual amount of exaggeration, these were real stories, tales of the crew before they were the crew. If they could accept the Demon of the East Blue into their midst, they could certainly accept the Monster of Drum as fully.
Maybe Zoro wasn't as scary has Chopper had feared. After all, why couldn't a demon be friends with monsters?
A/N2: So, I have been talked into taking part in NaNoWriMo by a friend, but I am still hoping to write and post the chapters (between 5 and 7 depending on how many StrawHats want to take part) I have planned for Alabasta by the end of November.
