In stark contrast to the moderate temperature that they just left, the light faded this time leaving the Straw Hats in a forest covered in snow. It came as a welcome surprise to the Straw Hats that their black outfits insulated them nicely from the cold. All except one, but his attention was oceans away from considering that.
"Yes, it's my turn! I'd know this forest anywhere. This is…wait a minute. This is the forest on the peak of the Drum Rockies, where the castle is! But what are we doing here?" Chopper asked, his joy fading into confusion.
"What do you mean, Chopper?" Luffy asked.
"The day Doctor died, he drank a soup I made out of Amiudake mushroom. It was poisonous; I thought that the skull and crossbones next to it in the book was a jolly roger. I was so stupid…but the point is that if we were going to stop me from doing that, we should be back at Doctor's house, which is at the foot of the mountains."
"Well, you can cure Amiudake now, right?" Usopp asked.
"Yeah. Ever since I found the cure, I've never let it out of my backpack; I'd never forgive myself if someone else died from that mushroom and I couldn't help them. And I wouldn't really have any trouble stabilizing Doctor's other condition, either…but he was facing down Wapol when he died."
Chopper's eyes lit up.
"That must be it. We're here to save Doctor along with everyone else in the kingdom by overthrowing Wapol!"
"Oh, this is going to be fun to watch," Zoro said, smirking dangerously.
"What do you mean 'watch', Mosshead? Do you not plan on fighting?" Sanji asked.
"It'd be nice, sure, but I think Chopper can handle all of them himself."
Chopper blinked, but then grinned, along with everyone else, as they realized what Zoro was implying. The reindeer removed his backpack, however, and dug in it for a moment before handing Sanji a vial and what looked like one of his Rumble Balls.
"Make sure Doctor drinks the vial first. That pill is designed to get rid of his illness, not the Amiudake; it could probably handle both, but I'm not taking any chances."
"Got it, doctor," Sanji said with a completely serious expression.
"And Luffy, go down the mountain and bring Doctorine up here. Otherwise, I don't think I'll get a chance to see her before we leave."
"Got it, Chopper," Luffy said before vanishing.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Chopper? Sending Luffy to get her?" Zoro asked.
"For once, I agree with Mosshead. Luffy's not exactly careful with things like that."
"…You may be right. Is it silly of me to have thought that Luffy would still be scared of Doctorine, so he'd be careful with her?"
Sanji thought back to the time that he first met Chopper's mentor, and paled as he remembered her chasing him through the castle while throwing weapons at him.
"I see your point, Chopper. But I'm not sure Luffy would have enough good sense not to just grab her and rocket up to the top of the mountain."
Chopper shrugged, and then sniffed the air before his eyes narrowed.
"It's too late to do anything about it now. All right, this one's mine. The rest of you, make sure Doctor doesn't get hurt."
Everyone nodded, and put on their hoods as they followed Chopper towards the edge of the forest.
Before the castle of Drum Kingdom sat its tyrannical king Wapol on the back of his steed, a large woolly hippo. Flanking him was a small army of royal soldiers with rifles raised, a group of twenty men in pink smocks, and a man with a green woolly outfit who was bound to serve the king. All of these faced a man with a cross-shaped hairdo, with dark circles beneath his eyes from the poison coursing through his body, who had just been informed that the twenty doctors he had come to save were alive and well, and it was merely a trap to kill him.
"So that was it," Hiruluk said, falling to his knees. "Thank God…and none of them are sick."
Dalton, the sole member of the king's guards who had his morals straight, stiffened as he saw the doctor begin to cry tears of joy.
"I was afraid…that this was a national crisis. But no. Luckily it was just a trick!" Hiruluk said. Members of the 20 MDs, the twenty doctors that served Wapol out of necessity, began to have the same reaction as Dalton.
"Ha! If it really was a national crisis, I wouldn't want someone like you!" Wapol gloated, before commanding his soldiers, "Ignore his babbling! Execute him!"
"Save your bullets," Hiruluk said, raising a hand. "You don't have what it takes to kill someone like me."
Wapol's face contorted in confusion, and the soldiers refrained from firing as Hiruluk continued.
"Hey. When do you think a person dies? When a bullet from a pistol pierces his heart? No. When he's attacked by an incurable disease? No. When he eats a soup of deadly poisonous mushrooms? No! A man…dies when people forget him."
Dalton gritted his teeth as the doctor poured a cup of one of his chemicals.
"Even if I should disappear right now, my dream will come true. And when it does, the citizens' sickness of the heart will be cured as well. You're crying…why, Dalton?"
The royal guard had tears streaming down his cheeks as he choked out,
"Is that…true for a country?"
"Yeah, if the will to do it is passed on," Hiruluk responded.
"Come on, Dalton, why are you crying?" Wapol cackled, oblivious to the thought that one of his most loyal soldiers was gaining the resolve to stand up to him.
"Very shortly, a monster will be coming. He's my son. Please, don't hurt him," Hiruluk said. He felt blood trickle out of his mouth, and his vision slowly began fading as he looked down into his cup, preparing to shout his last words to all who could hear and ensure that he did not die at his son's hand. Just as he opened his mouth to shout, the ground beneath him began to quake, causing some of the formula to spill on the snow. The quakes grew stronger and stronger at a fast pace, and in spite of himself, Hiruluk put aside his thoughts of drinking the chemicals, and looked around. His jaw hit the ground as he saw a tremendous shadow coming from the forest nearby.
"Wh-what is that thing?!" one of the guards demanded. Wapol was looking in shock as well.
"IT'S A MONSTER! SHOOT IT, SHOOT IT!" Wapol demanded. The soldiers did not need telling twice, and they began firing their rifles, giving no more consideration to the rogue doctor.
Only Dalton spared enough attention to Hiruluk to notice as a figure in a black cloak appeared next to him, knocking the cup from his hand before forcing a vial into it.
"If you have any care for your son, then drink that, now. It's the cure for Amiudake," the figure hissed. Hiruluk blinked in shock, but with the development of the current situation, it seemed he had no choice if he was to make sure he didn't die from the mushroom. He downed the contents of the vial, and looked at the figure with curiosity, only to have his response cut off as he held out a yellow pill.
"Our doctor spent years working on this. Eat this, and swallow every bit of it; it will cure your disease."
Hiruluk looked at the pill, his mouth still open some, and marveled as his vision slowly began to clear. He wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth before taking the pill and biting it. It broke into bitter pieces, and he struggled to swallow it all, but managed it in the end. The figure got up from beside him, and turned away.
"Doctor Hiruluk, your own actions have brought you this cure. Pay attention to what's going on, and you'll see your life's work realized," he said quietly.
His attention gained, Hiruluk turned his rapidly returning sight to the castle's front, where he saw a sight to make his jaw drop to the snow once more.
Dalton had little time to reflect on the figure that was talking to Hiruluk before he refocused on the monster that was coming closer. It was a massive figure, ten times his height, with what looked like black cloth covering his entire form aside from his head, which seemed to be that of a demonic reindeer: a long muzzle with a blue nose, massive antlers, and a pair of glowing red eyes. On top of his head sat a pink hat beneath a blue cap, but that did nothing to make the monster less terrifying, especially when it became clear that the guns had been emptied and the monster showed no indication of being wounded. Dalton thought of the words that Hiruluk had just spoken, and his eyes widened as he somehow found the strength to speak.
"…Are you…Hiruluk's son?"
The monster looked at him, and its eyes faded to reveal black irises. The look on his face was almost gentle as it replied.
"Yes. I'm here to save my father," it rumbled in a low voice. Then it turned its attention to Wapol, and its eyes lit up with hatred again, unbothered by the fact that the tyrant was sweating bullets.
"Your rule is over, Wapol," the monster rumbled.
"G-G-G-GUARDS! KILL IT, KILL IT, KILL IT! IF GUNS DON'T WORK, USE YOUR SWORDS!"
Instinctually, all of the guards hesitated, their primitive lizard brains screaming Giant monster! But when the monster made no move to attack, they charged forward, aiming for the beast's shrouded legs.
"I won't hurt you if you don't give me a reason to."
The charge hiccuped but didn't falter. The monster, slowly and almost with reluctance, raised one giant hand and slammed it upon the ground just before the guards would have reached him. The resulting force sent the nearest ones flying and half-buried the remainder in snow. The charge broken, the monster spoke again:
"Stand down, or I'll have to send you all the way."
Then he moved, dashing forward and pushing against the soldier-filled snow with all the force of a stampede. With a final shove, he sent them flying...nearly to the edge. The soldiers were mere inches away from falling off of the mountain to certain death down below.
...he had deliberately spared them, they realized. He could have killed them but left them alive. At the same time, they couldn't stand down against the king's orders...so, to a man, they did the only thing they could to preserve their lives both ways. That is...nothing. They simply feigned being unconscious. Much to Wapol's panic.
"GET UP, YOU IDIOTS! GET UP AND PROTECT—AAAAAH!" Wapol looked back at the monster to see him approaching with deliberate slowness. A predator after his prey, it seemed.
"DALTON! CHESS! KUROMARIMO! GET RID OF HIM!"
A man with a frowny face and jester outfit moved before Wapol immediately, another man with an afro and a grin that seemed more like a grimace beside him.
"You're up against the strongest fighters on this island, monster, don't think you're getting away!" Kuromarimo declared.
"You'll never lay a hand on King Wapol as long as we live," Chess agreed, nocking arrows in his bow.
The monster didn't stop, or slow, or even visibly react to the threat. Gulping audibly, Chess loosed his arrows, Kuromarimo tossing sticky hairballs along with them. The projectiles struck true - and did absolutely nothing. The balls didn't slow down the monster an iota. The arrows dug in, and for a moment Wapol and his two lieutenants felt a glimmer of hope.
That hope died screaming when one of the arrows fell out of the beast's fur, revealing that it had simply gotten entangled in the thick pelt.
"Aaaaaah!" Chess screamed, backpedaling frantically and loosing arrow after arrow. "Getawaygetawaygetaway!"
Kuromarimo, possessed of either more courage or less good sense than his compatriot, sprouted spikes from his gloves and charged into melee. Roaring, he reared back his fist, only to get swallowed up by the monster's giant palm and lifted up into the air.
"Go cool your head," it rumbled, before tossing Kuromarimo with considerable force into the largest snowbank around. There was a sound not unlike a ringing bell, and he slumped, unconscious, from his head striking the large chunk of ice hidden by the snowbank.
That done, the monster continued its inexorable advance to the castle gates - castle gates which slammed shut right behind Chess. The man took this about as well as he could've.
"What?! No! My liege, please, open up!" Chess wailed, abandoning his bow to pound on the gates. Abruptly, the sun stopped shining on him, and he turned around to find the monster looming over him, soulless eyes boring into his own. Faced, alone, with his own impending doom, Chess did the only sensible thing:
He fainted.
The monster tilted its head quizzically. "Huh." Leaning over, it picked up Chess' insensate form and carefully tossed it over to where Kuromarimo was still unconscious. Standing straight, it eyed the castle, as if pondering the best way to pry it open.
"MAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
It peered up, finding Wapol on the battlements, bristling with weaponry from swords to heavy cannon.
"Fool!" Wapol crowed bombastically. "You should've killed me when you had the chance! Now that I have absorbed the castle's armory through the power of the Munch-Munch Fruit, there's no chance you'll get into this castle alive! Mahahahahahaha!"
The monster, in response to this rant, said nothing. For a malignant narcissist like Wapol, this was about the cruelest thing the monster could have done.
"Say something, dammit!"
"I gave the rest a chance to give themselves up," the monster rumbled. "But you… I'll enjoy hurting you."
Wapol's jaw fell open at the naked threat. "Wha—buh—you—I am the king!"
"No. You're history."
And, moving with speed that it had not shown before, that should've been impossible for a body so large, the monster clapped its hands together, with Wapol in the middle. The collapse of metal and weaponry was more than even he himself could have healed; the tyrant's life was over.
Withdrawing his hands, the monster stared with pity and a bit of sadness at the corpse.
"I still haven't found the cure for a black heart…if only I had, maybe you could have turned things around."
Hiruluk, Dalton, the 20 MDs, and the soldiers looked in shock and horror as the monster turned back towards them. His eyes fell on the only soldier of the king who hadn't raised his weapon.
"Dalton, it's time that you decided. Where do your loyalties lie?"
The man forced down his shock at the situation as he thought of Wapol's father and Hiruluk, men that had their hearts in the right place for this kingdom. He looked up at the monster with a determined expression and then turned to the remaining royal soldiers as they deemed it safe to stop feigning unconsciousness.
"I've seen the path this country should take. With Wapol gone, it can finally receive the care that it needs. If any of you remain loyal to that fool, then step up now, and I'll be your opponent."
The royal soldiers looked between the half-bison that they knew was far above them in strength, and the monster that was leering down at them that had defeated Wapol with one clap of his hands. As one, they dropped their weapons to the ground.
At that point, Hiruluk finally staggered forward, looking at the monster with a look of shock.
"Ch…Chopper?" he managed. The monster turned to look at him, and tears filled his eyes. The next moment, he slowly began to shrink, his black outfit changing size with him. In only a matter of seconds, the monster had shrunken to the size of a human child, the monstrous reindeer's face changed to a face reminiscent of a raccoon-dog. This small figure stumbled forward, crying more heavily than Dalton himself had been only a few minutes before as he fell into Hiruluk's embrace.
"D-Doctor…I'm so happy you're all right…" he choked out through his sobs, his voice now high-pitched like a child's.
Dalton observed the scene with no small amount of curiosity before something else caught his eye. Coming up from the rope that led down to the bottom was another small, teary-eyed, raccoon-dog-like creature, seemingly much younger, obviously much more bandaged, and in absence of a blue cap on top of his pink one. Still, Dalton could easily guess that it was the same creature, and he looked between the two before turning back in the direction of the figure he had seen earlier…only to see nine instead of one, all of varying sizes, and all with their bodies and faces hidden beneath black robes.
"…COULD SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Dalton shouted, his exasperation at not understanding the situation finally getting the better of him.
The creature hugging the doctor slowly pushed himself away, and the other one approached him, curiosity creeping over his face in place of the tears. As Hiruluk noticed this, he glanced between the two as well, and put a hand to his head.
"Am I still sick? I'm seeing two Choppers here. How are there two Choppers here?"
"I…I'm from the future, Doctor," said the one with the blue cap. Dalton, Hiruluk, and the younger Chopper looked at him attentively. He swallowed, but continued.
"In my time…you died today, and I started studying under Doctorine, Doctor Kureha. She taught me everything she knew about medicine. After six years, a powerful pirate crew called the Blackbeard Pirates attacked the country. Wapol didn't even try to fight them; as soon as he found out how strong they were, he took all of his soldiers and ran away. Dalton, you took command of the country and started to rebuild it, and you did a good job, and Doctorine and I moved into the castle. The country was recovering around the time that the Straw Hat Pirates arrived here.
"The Straw Hats weren't your normal kind of pirates; they only came here because one of their crewmates was horribly sick. They begged to be let into the island, and you allowed it. The captain climbed the Drum Rockies with his bare hands to get his crewmate to the doctor…and that was about the time that Wapol found his way back and tried to reclaim his throne. But when he got to the top of the mountain, the captain defeated him and sent him flying far away from here. The crew talked me into joining them as their doctor, and I set out to sea.
"It was eleven years from now that my captain, Monkey D. Luffy, became King of the Pirates, and I discovered the secret of the Panacea. I've become the greatest doctor in the world, a doctor that can cure any disease…and it's all thanks to you, Doctor. That's why I came back here; an old man that my crew met let each of us go back in time to save someone we lost before. If you took the medicine…then you're all better. You won't die, and you can live to see your dream come true," Chopper finished, smiling and crying at the same time.
Hiruluk, Dalton, and the young Chopper slowly digested the story. Then Hiruluk reached forward and grabbed both Choppers, pulling them close and hugging them tightly to his chest.
"I'm so proud of you, Chopper."
The younger of the two reindeer found it a little odd to be thanked for something that he hadn't done yet, but nonetheless found himself tearing up at hearing that praise from his father. Older Chopper, meanwhile, was crying his eyes out. The soldiers and MDs looked on curiously, Dalton stared with an unreadable expression as he took in the reality of what would have been were it not for these pirates from the future. The other eight members of the crew looked on without removing their hoods, allowing their crewmate an uninterrupted reunion with his father.
Or at least, that's what they planned on, up until the point where there was a crash nearby, sending up a small cloud of snow. Following this, they could hear a woman's voice spouting a stream of invective from the middle of the cloud. Chopper winced as he separated from his father again, and Hiruluk had a similar expression. Younger Chopper looked in apprehension while his future self turned towards the other figures.
"You were right, Sanji. I shouldn't have had Luffy get Doctorine," he groaned. Many of the cloaked figures shook their heads as they approached where the snow was clearing away to reveal an old woman with a youthful-looking body throttling another cloaked figure.
"YOU STUPID BRAT! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PLAYING AT, SENDING US FLYING LIKE THAT! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?" she screeched, looking positively murderous.
"Sorry, Doctorine. I asked him to bring you up here," Chopper said.
The woman turned around, opening her mouth to begin shouting at him as well, but her voice died in her throat as she saw that the speaker was significantly different from the reindeer that had left her several minutes before…who was currently standing a short distance behind him, next to a distinctly not dead Hiruluk. Her mouth remained open for several seconds more in a gape. Then she slowly closed her mouth, and looked at the reindeer close to her with a small frown.
"All right, so what exactly is going on here?"
Hiruluk, Kureha, young Chopper, Dalton, the 20 MDs, and many of the soldiers listened attentively as Chopper told them his story more thoroughly: Hiruluk's death, Dalton's rebellion, his apprenticeship under Kureha, the invasion of the country, its reformation under Dalton, the Straw Hat Pirates' arrival, the permanent end to Wapol's tyranny, the birth of the Sakura Kingdom, and his crew's success in reaching their dreams.
The tale enraptured all who heard it, and many of them took to memorizing the names and faces of those who would succeed Gold Roger in only a few years: Monkey D. Luffy, the grinning, black-haired young man with a scar under one eye who would be the King; Roronoa Zoro the green-haired, one-eyed young man who would succeed Dracule Mihawk; Nami, the orange-haired young woman who would succeed in navigating the most monstrous ocean in the world; Usopp, the black-haired, long-nosed young man who was worthy of the title 'king of snipers'; Sanji, the blonde-haired, swirly-eyebrowed chef who would prove the existence of the legendary All Blue; Nico Robin, the black-haired woman who would expose the dark history of the World Government; Franky, the robotic shipwright who would build a ship as formidable as the Oro Jackson; Brook, the skeletal musician whose abilities were worthy of the title 'Soul King'; Jinbe, the fishman who they knew today as a Warlord; and Tony Tony Chopper, the reindeer that ate the Human-Human Fruit that became the world's best doctor.
Young Chopper found himself awestruck from everything and everyone that they described, Kureha had a slight smirk as she considered the fact that she would raise with her own hands the one who would prove her wrong about there being no medicine that could cure all diseases, and Hiruluk was crying tears of joy.
"Chopper, you've grown up to be so strong. You've fulfilled all of my dreams and then some. I couldn't be prouder of you," he said fervently.
"I guess I should say that I'm proud of you too, Chopper. But how am I supposed to keep my job if you're here with the knowledge of the Panacea?" Kureha asked wryly. Chopper smiled sadly.
"You don't have to worry about that, Doctorine; the old man told us that we can only stay in each time period for an hour. We don't have much time left, and whatever we change here won't change anything in our time. But I want to ask you to teach me what you can tell me about medicine, and make the Sakura Kingdom into the thriving medical country that it should be."
Kureha stared at the small reindeer for a few minutes with an unreadable expression. Then she smirked.
"Well, how can I refuse my superior?" she asked wryly.
Chopper blushed and grinned, and began dancing.
"Sh-shut up! You were the one who taught me everything you knew about medicine, you shouldn't be complimenting me," he said, fooling nobody into thinking that he wasn't unusually happy about the compliment.
"Not very good at hiding his emotions, is he?" Kureha asked Hiruluk dryly.
"Wow, that's weird. That's exactly what I said the first time I met Chopper," Nami said.
"And what the rest of the crew said when he joined us," Zoro added.
Young Chopper was looking at his older self curiously.
"Does it really make you that happy?" he asked. The older reindeer stopped and looked at him, still smiling.
"Doctorine hardly ever gave me compliments," he explained, but then his smile turned a bit sad.
"But besides that, in my time, I grew up being called a monster by everyone except Doctorine; I always tried not to feel happy when humans complimented me."
"To no avail," Jinbe said, provoking chuckles all around.
"But you've got a chance now to earn a place where you belong before you meet Luffy and the others. It won't be easy, but at least give it a try," Chopper said, surprisingly serious.
Younger Chopper looked uncertain, and Dalton spoke up.
"Chopper, is it? I'll help make sure that everyone treats you the way that they should," he promised.
"And why shouldn't they? It's all thanks to Chopper that this country can finally rebuild itself," Hiruluk said proudly. Then he looked back at the older reindeer.
"Speaking of which…how did you turn into that giant?"
In short order, Chopper found himself explaining everything he could about Rumble Balls, including showing off all of his forms. Kureha and Hiruluk were obviously fascinated at his discovery, and Dalton, as a Zoan himself, was expressing just as much interest. Younger Chopper, on the other hand, was growing more acquainted with the Straw Hat Pirates. All of them seemed nice, even Zoro, who Chopper was at first as scared of as Brook. But the swordsman seemed surprisingly gentle to Chopper, and the end result was him eagerly awaiting being able to meet with this crew in the future.
As the time for the crew to depart drew nearer, many of the soldiers, at Chopper's request and Dalton's command, brought all of the castle's cannons out onto the mountaintop, while the 20 MDs retrieved the research from Doctor Hiruluk's laboratory, at the same time informing the country of the situation. Chess and Kuromarimo were bound and imprisoned, and the flag atop the castle was replaced with Hiruluk's jolly roger. It was more work than they anticipated duplicating the experiment's results, but the cannons found themselves loaded just as the ten pirates began to shine. The reindeer rushed to hug his father one last time.
"I'm so glad I made you proud…Father," Chopper said. Hiruluk teared up all over again, and held the future version of his son close.
"My son…thank you for everything. I promise you that you'll become a fine doctor again," the man whispered. Younger Chopper watched from a short distance, and his eyes hardened.
"I promise that, too, older me. I'll make you proud…or make me proud?" he asked, the seriousness fading before confusion. His older self chuckled.
"I'd rather not think about it, it's too confusing. But I know you'll do great, Chopper."
The younger reindeer beamed, and the older one stepped back to stand beside his crew just as the cannons fired. And as the light winked out, the pirates going with it, the Sakura Kingdom was born.
And, done. Took far too long, but I did have some writer's block in revising this chapter from my original idea that I presented to Blueh. Anyway, as I said before, I'll have the next chapter up by next Saturday at the latest. Rate and review if you please; I very much value each one and the criticisms therein. Also, Corazon still has a commanding lead for the petition on whom Sanji will intervene for, so it seems likely that he'll be the intervention in a couple of chapters. There's still time, of course, but…well, we'll see what happens. Anyway, until the next chapter, may it never be forgotten that Patience is a virtue.
Edit: My immense gratitude to CV12Hornet for revamping this chapter's fight.