Chopper sat in his little infirmary aboard the Going Merry grinding various ingredients into a paste that would act as the base of the new salve he was making. Occasionally glancing at the book on ancient remedies that Robin had given him, the doctor mentally reviewed his schedule for the rest of the day. There were a couple more medicines he wanted to get started on, plus a new batch of rumble balls that needed to be made. Including in a break to play tag with Luffy and Usopp, he had a full day.
Being the Straw Hat's doctor was much more difficult than Chopper had anticipated. While the crew were all very good fighters they were horrible, horrible patients. Plus, they had such hardy constitutions it was impossible for him to knock them out to treat them. So the little reindeer did what he could: making medicine, reapplying bandages, and learning more about all the diseases and sickness that could hurt his new family.
Chopper propped his book up to a more comfortable reading height and grinned. There were still some days where he could hardly believe he was a real pirate. All the tales that Doctor Hiliruk told flowed into mind, along with all of the really cool stories Usopp always told about adventure and fun and treasure and monsters and best of all pirates. They had just left Alabasta a couple of days ago, and even though they had to leave a friend behind and it had been really hot he had helped save a country. Plus he got to learn a bunch of stuff from the kingdom's doctors, even though they weren't as good as Doctorine (not that there was anyone as good as Doctorine, but still).
Yes, there were some days that he couldn't believe he was living his dream. It was just so unlikely, one minute he had been in a castle with Doctorine, and the next thing he knew Luffy was shouting at him to join his crew. Wapol had been blown away and Doctor's cherry blossoms had healed the island. Now he was on a pirate ship swaying gently on the ocean.
Chopper put his paste aside for the moment, and took out his medical records. The records were nothing to brag about, as the little doctor hadn't really been on the ship for very long and getting any of the Straw Hats to actually sit down long enough to take a physical was next to impossible. But they were what he had, and that was that. Chopper pulled out Zoro's file to review how the swordsmen's wounds had been healing. He was still amazed that Zoro could stand after his brutal fight with Mr. 1, but he had. Zoro was really amazing, his recovery nothing short of miraculous considering he was still suffering from the big wound across his chest.
And deep in Chopper's heart he knew that Zoro would never slow down and let himself heal before going back to his ridiculous training. In a strange way it was like Dr. Hiliruk, who kept on searching for a cure even though he was really sick. No matter how many times his experiments had blown up in his face, the old doctor had persevered. And Zoro didn't care how many times he was cut, slashed, or impaled so long as he was the best.
It kind of scared Chopper how much disregard some of the crew had for their lives. There was a small part of him that wondered what would happen if someone got really hurt or sick and he didn't know how to treat them.
As if they were eavesdropping on Chopper's thoughts, Luffy and Zoro busted into the infirmary. With a squeak Chopper jumped and hid behind his table.
"Oi, Chopper, you're doing it backwards again," Zoro said with a yawn.
"You scared me you idiots!" Chopper replied, his voice a whole octave higher than normal.
"Oh, sorry! Hey Chopper, do you think I can take these bandages off yet? It's really hard to punch stuff like this, and there was this really big sea king that got away earlier," Luffy said.
"Yeah, it's impossible to move properly with all this stuff on," Zoro added.
Chopper supposed he should be grateful that they were at least asking this time before taking the bandages off. With a small sigh of resignation, getting these people to sit down was like trying to stop a train, he checked over his over enthusiastic patients.
Luffy had healed remarkably well; there wasn't even a scar where he had been impaled by Crocodile. Nor were there any obvious effects of when he had all the water sucked out of him or when he had nearly been crushed underneath the weight of the tombs. Chopper wasn't quite sure if Luffy's rubber body healed compared to a normal human, but the way he bounced back from really bad injuries was impressive. So he gave Luffy the all clear, and his captain began tearing off the bandages with great vigor.
Zoro on the other hand, was human (at least Chopper thought so, Usopp had once said he was part robot) and his wounds really should have kept him down for a little more time.
"Zoro please keep these on, for another day at least? You're just going to make yourself worse," the little doctor pleaded. Zoro just gave him a flat look before unwrapping the bandages.
"I can't train with these," he said by way of explanation.
"But you'll just make yourself worse! The muscles need to knit back together, and abdomen wounds are tricky, Zoro please?"
"Hey, don't worry about it Chopper, if he gets hurt you can just fix him again. 'Cause you're going to be the best doctor in the world, and Zoro's gotta train if he's going to be the best swordsman," Luffy said absent mindedly before chasing after Usopp with a whoop of joy, reveling in his newfound freedom from the evil bandages. Zoro grunted in agreement as he finished unwrapping the bandages from his chest wounds.
"Will you at least come tell me if something happens?" Chopper said in a small voice. Zoro paused, giving him a look that he didn't quite understand before reaching down and scruffing his head.
"Sure thing, you're the doctor," he said. After testing his range of motion, Zoro left too, leaving behind one concerned little reindeer.
Chopper took a deep breath and returned to his salve. Luffy was right, he always was. Zoro was really strong. And so was Sanji and Robin and Luffy, and Usopp did cool stuff all the time, and even Nami got scary sometimes when she hit someone.
He had faith in all of their abilities, because Luffy was going to be the Pirate King and he had to have the best crew in the whole world. That meant that Chopper had to be the very best doctor, because they would be getting in more fights like the ones in Alabasta.
Because they had faith in his ability as a doctor, and he knew that they were all the best. Nami never got them lost, Sanji made the best food, Usopp always hit what he shot at, Robin knew everything, and Luffy and Zoro never, ever lost a fight. And it was Chopper's job to keep everyone healthy. Together they made a family, a weird, stupid, strong, and sometimes scary family.
So Chopper sat and continued onwards towards his dream of curing every disease, wondering if there was an antidote against hopeless stupidity and if he could manage to give it to Zoro without him knowing.
AN: Thanks for reading, leave a review if you would be so kind. Chopper's a toughie for me to write because you have to balance his awesome doctor skills with his childlike demeanor. I for one prefer Drum Island cool Chopper over cutesy stupid Chopper. Plus, I think his design looks unnerving now. I liked it better when it was not quite so super deformed, but I guess that's my opinion. Once again, thank you all so much for being so nice so far, you all have been too kind.