He sits in his usual corner on the mid-deck, grinding down herbs in a long-practiced motion as he listens to the soft music being played at the bow of the ship. Chopper pauses every now and then to look up at his Nakama, a smile on his face as he notices them gathering by the lion figurehead. Sitting on the figurehead, between a blond and a brunet is the Captain. The oldest of the three, the brunet, pushes a worn old straw hat down onto the Captain's head.
Laughter rings out across the ship, from them, the shipwright, the violinist skeleton. Even the archaeologist chuckles softly, yet discretely. "Chopper! Come join us!"
"Okay!" Chopper jumps up and quickly tidies up his little work area by the herb garden. After everything is cleaned up and put away for later, he happily trots down the stairs to join his Nakama. Just as he reaches the bottom step he trips and goes tumbling. When he sits up he finds himself half-buried in a snow drift, heavily wounded. A man stands several feet away from him, boldly stripped down to nothing and his arms out to show he bears no weapons.
Life with Doctor Hiluluk is great, once he gets past his fear and misplaced anger towards the man. The man takes care of him and nurses him back to health. He even gives him a name. Tony Tony Chopper. He loves his new name, his new identity. Hiluluk is like a father to him, though he never admits as much to the man.
Over the course of a year they go around the Drum Kingdom, treating the sick and miserable villagers that King Wapol's Isshi-20 won't. There is another Doctor on the island that is free of Wapol's control, but Chopper has never seen her. She has to be a great Doctor, but Hiluluk is the best.
Admiring the soft, pink hat Hiluluk has given him, probably for the thousandth time, Chopper smiles. After a long moment he pulls the hat on and turns as Hiluluk comes in from a trip of gathering some special ingredients. The look on his face is a little grim, which makes the reindeer pause. "Doctor? Is something wrong?"
Hiluluk's expression briefly hardens and he starts to open his mouth to say something, only to halt and study the blatant concern on Chopper's face. His features soften and the old man wearily sits down on the edge of the bed, patting the spot beside him as an open invitation for Chopper to join him. The chibi-esque reindeer gets up without question and is quick to snuggle up to his side once he is seated on the bed. "I have something to tell you, but before I do so you must promise me that you will let me finish speaking first." Chopper nods without any hesitation, his gaze filled with resolute determination as he waits for Hiluluk to explain what is going on.
"I don't have much longer to live, Chopper," Hiluluk states in a voice so soft that the reindeer thinks he is imagining the words. The gravely serious expression on the man's face as he waits and watches, likely for Chopper's reaction, solidifies the reality of the situation and tears begin to form in his eyes. His mouth opens, but snaps shut as he remembers that Hiluluk wants him to wait to speak. A sad smile forms on the man's lips and he wraps an arm around the young reindeer.
He is gone. His father is dead. Days before the disease sapping away Hiluluk's health will finally take his life there had been an announcement that Wapol's Isshi-20 had all fallen gravely ill. Being the concerned and kind man that he was, Hiluluk had gone to treat them. Chopper had quietly followed after him, naturally, out of a desire to help his father, only to witness the level of Wapol's cruelty and trickery reach an extreme.
It had been a viciously laid trap, but Hiluluk had been well prepared, his cunning knowing no bounds, and had tried to take Wapol's life with his own after tearfully expressing his relief that the Isshi-20 hadn't been sick at all. The attempt to blow Wapol up had been largely in vain, that much Chopper had seen before he had been knocked unconscious.
When he comes to, he thinks it is all a frightening dream at first, but he quickly finds that it had all been very real. The woman doctor, Kureha, is the one who had knocked him out and had taken him away before anything untoward could happen to him. She sits across from his bed, rather the wholly unfamiliar bed he had awoken in, drinking from a bottle of plum wine held in one hand while she clutches a tattered navy top hat in the other.
Unshed tears make her eyes glisten, her expression stricken with grief. She says nothing to Chopper as she gets up to somberly walk over to the bed and set the hat down beside him. Kureha remains silent as she returns to her chair, taking another draught of plum wine while she watches Chopper hesitantly lift up the tattered hat.
Tears well up in the reindeer's eyes and a wail spills from his mouth as he crushes the hat to his chest. For close to an hour he lets out his grief, until he can no longer cry, quieting down to sniffles and finally exhausting himself into a fitful slumber.
"I promise you, old fool, to make him the best damn doctor in the world," Kureha whispers, a stray tear making a quickly cooling track down her cheek. Her gaze goes from Chopper to a small glass jar sitting on the bedside table. It is half full, containing a beautiful pink powder. The results of Hiluluk's thirty long years of research.