"Join my crew! Please!" Luffy had his arms splayed out on the table, his face leaning forward to meet Bear's with a determined expression.
Bear herself leaned back as far as her back would let her, uncomfortable with the boy's directness. "Ummm..." She smiled in a sort of wavering, what-is-even-happening-here way, "Thanks but, uh, who are you, exactly?"
"Eh? I just told you, I'm Luffy!" He leaned forward even more.
"N-No, I mean, who exactly is 'Luffy'?" She took a step backwards.
"Luffy is me!" He clambered up on the table in order to be even more in her face.
"Luffy, you idiot!" Sanji's arm reached out and pulled Luffy back from Bear's personal space. "You can't talk to a goddess like that!"
The raven-haired boy adopted an incredulous look. "Eh, a goddess!? Her!?"
"Listen, Luffy." He placed the boy down and gave him a serious look, as if he were teaching a child a very important lesson. "We've all been blessed by her. You have to be respectful."
"Ah." Luffy nodded, understanding, and then turned to Bear and bowed. "Thank you, ma'am. Please join my pirate crew."
Bear felt the heat rise to her face. "I'm not a goddess, you weirdos!" Her screams fell on deaf ears, however, as the two noticed Chopper, who had snuck back into the castle.
"Wait, reindeer meat!" And the chase was on again, with Chopper in the lead, followed closely by Luffy and Sanji, hungry looks gracing their faces.
"Hey, stop right there, you brats!" Doctor Kureha suddenly entered the chase, bringing up the rear with a vicious look in her eyes.
"Hey, wait a second!" Bear followed the four, not even sure how she got into a chase like this. "Your goddess- uh- demands you stop, or something!"
Sanji turned his head towards her, a loving look on his face. "Not to worry, my lady! I'll be back soon with a delicious feast of reindeer for you!" Instead of the serene face of a thankful goddess, however, he was greeted with the sight of a wrathful Kureha. "Aghhh! It's that old hag again!"
"And she's carrying knives!"
Bear struggled to keep up with the group, who were moving at speeds she thought impossible. "Wait, Kureha! Weirdos! Chopper!" She'd lost them, and in the process, gotten herself lost in the castle. Again. Thankful for the thick furs around her legs and waist, she wished her torso and arms had been graced the same way as well. Snow crunched under her boots as she walked into the main hall, a few stories up from the ground floor. Leaning against an ice-incrusted railing, a sigh escaped her lips, and she found herself feeling very alone in the ice-cold, whiteout of a fortress.
Where had she come from? Who was she? How did she get here? She racked her brain with the questions she had been asking for the past day, but still found no answer. It was the most frustrating feeling in the world. She had no one, did she? Someone must've dumped her here because they didn't want anything to do with her. Someone left her here to die. That was why there was no one here for her. Bear was beginning to convince herself of this when voices below snapped her out of her thoughts.
The two weirdos, Luffy and Sanji, were standing in front of the castle entryway, looking at the top of the wooden door. Not far from them stood Chopper. Bear smiled. She too had tried to close the door of the freezing castle. She too had gotten yelled at by Chopper. And she too had noticed the nest of baby birds on top of the door. If anyone tried to close it, the nest would've fallen.
No, actually, Bear couldn't say she was alone. Sure, someone may have abandoned her here. But Kureha had told her Chopper's story when she had woken up. The world had abandoned him, too. So in a way, she felt a sort of kinship towards him.
"Wait a sec... Did that reindeer talk just now?"
"Ah! And was he walking on two legs...?"
Bear chuckled. About time the two weirdos actually noticed Chopper was a person, not a piece of food.
"It's a monster!"
Bear didn't chuckle at that. Her gaze hardened, and she felt a sort of anger burning in her chest.
"W-What the heck is he? He's fluffy... Walks on two legs... Looks like a reindeer..."
The listing of all the faults of Chopper was interrupted as a small plume of snow flew up into the air. In the plume rested Bear, and all she could see was the sad look on Chopper's face as he walked away.
"And what's so wrong with that, huh?" She stomped towards Luffy, a clear warning in the aggressiveness of her gait. "Is there something so strange about that that you have to talk about him like that?" She leveled a glare at him. "Chopper may be different from you, but that's what makes him cool. That's what makes him unique. He's a person, and I won't let you talk about him like that. Got it?" He stared right back at her. And Bear continued to glare at him, challenging him to say anything different, to tell her that she was wrong.
And across Monkey D. Luffy's face broke the biggest smile Bear had ever seen. "I know, right? He's so cool!" And across Bear's face broke the most incredulous expression she was sure she had ever made. "Hey, are you friends with him? Since you're joining my pirate crew, get him to come along, too!"
Bear just continued to stare.
"Oi, Luffy!" Sanji berated. "You can't just order a goddess around like that! You have to-"
Laughter broke across Sanji's speech. Bear was doubled over, arms trying to keep her lungs in her chest. "You're so crazy!" She slapped a knee, still laughing. "I like it! You're cool, too!" The girl straightened up, smiling. "I misjudged you. I have to apologize for that. You're actually a great guy." Then she turned and lightly punched Sanji in the arm. "And I told you, I'm not a goddess, I'm just some girl."
"Is that so? Just some girl?" Luffy grinned at her. "Well, I think you're cool, too!"
Bear leaned against the stone wall of the castle and crossed her arms. "I'll put in the good word to Chopper for you, okay? Although, I don't really know him all that well..."
The raven-haired boy laughed. "You don't know him all that well, but you still defended him, huh? Man, you're a really good friend!"
"I think she just explained that they aren't really friends, idiot..." Sanji commented drily from beside him.
"And about your offer." Bear looked up. "I'll have to think about it. It sounds fun, I guess. And its not like I have anywhere else to go, but... I don't want to hurt innocent people. That's a definite deal breaker." She turned back to him. "I'll have to think on it for a bit, okay? I still have to figure out how to get my memories back."
Luffy just continued to grin at her. "Fine by me. Think real hard, okay?"
"Making deals with pirates now, are you?" No one even noticed Kureha and Chopper walk up to them. "I don't think we need your memories to know that you're probably a violent criminal."
Bear frowned at her. "Says the woman who chases two sick people around a castle with knives in her hands." She hadn't failed to pick up on the tense atmosphere the two newcomers brought with them. "What's up?"
Kureha scoffed and pointed outside. "Unwelcome visitors." The older woman and the reindeer went outside, leaving the other three alone again.
"Unwelcome visitors?" Sanji stared towards the open doorway as voices could be heard rising outside. "Wonder what she means by that..."
Bear thought. "I don't think anyone could get up here all on their own, unless they climbed up the face of the mountain like you did-" She pointed at Luffy. "Which, by the way, should actually be totally impossible, and-" Her voice died in her throat as she caught just two words from the din outside.
'Drum Kingdom.'
She used the wind to quickly pull herself around the corner and out into the snow beside Kureha and Chopper.
"Hey, Doctor Kureha."
Kureha acknowledged her with a grunt.
"Is this that guy you told me about? Is this 'Wapol'?"
OoOoOoOoO
It was only hours after the girl had woken up that she asked about him. The little 'cat-deer'.
"The what?"
"The cat-deer with the pink hat on. How did you meet him?"
Kureha stared at her patient, who she now was sure was very insane. "That's a very long story, girl." She decided to ask about the whole 'cat-deer' thing later.
"Mind telling it?"
"Nosy girl." Kureha took a swig of her bottle. "Alright, maybe it'll drug up some memories in that messed up head of yours."
OoOoOoOoO
Six years earlier in a Kingdom called Drum, the dogs on the snowy streets howled as a man drudged along through an alleyway, coughing with every step.
"Did you find him!?"
"No, sir! We can't find him anywhere!"
And they weren't going to find him. Even if they did, they wouldn't catch him. They never did.
"I just know that Hiluluk was behind this! I can't believe it! Not only does he rob me, but he burns my house down! Do something about him! You are the National Guard, aren't you!?"
But the National Guard could do nothing about the Quack Doctor Hiluluk, as he was too busy sneaking away from them in the alleys, counting his newly acquired money. It wasn't thievery, really. He shoulda just paid Hiluluk! The damn guy was being way too stingy, anyways! And it wasn't like he had set his house on fire on purpose, it was an accident! The doctor decided the Guard wasn't coming this way, and sauntered out onto the streets, leaving footprints and coughed up blood behind him.
He made another stop at a patient's house, bursting down the chimney and into the living space. He checked the man's temperature, shot a tranquilizer at his wife when she went for the guards, mixed up the medicine and accidentally made the man pass out, tried to comfort the crying kid, and jumped out the window when the Guard came in. That probably could've gone better.
He was limping across the moonlit bridge in the middle of town when he noticed someone was waiting there for him.
"Heeeeee hee hee hee~! Well, aren't you a happy pappy, young lad." The 133 year-old Doctor Kureha took a swig of sake and glanced at him. "Ain't nothing scarier in this world than a doctor who hasn't got a clue as to what he's doing. If you'd never called yourself a doctor, there'd be about a hundred people whose illnesses would've ended quickly as just a minor cold."
Hiluluk scowled at his fellow doctor. "Shut up, you old hag... A doctor wicked enough to take advantage of her patients and rob them blind is the last person who I want to be lectured by!"
"Don't be hating my style now, kid." Kureha adjusted her position on the stone railing of the bridge. "By the way, did you know that you and I are now the only doctors in this country aside from the MD-20?"
The MD-20. The 20 personal doctors of King Wapol, and the only ones allowed to practice medicine in the country. These 20 doctors and the two elders on the bridge were the only medical professionals the citizens of Drum Kingdom had. 20 of them were too expensive for most. Two of them were regarded with fear and derision. They practiced medicine illegally, and therefore were defying the King. The punishment for that crime was death. The punishment for nearly every crime was death. The mad rules of a mad king.
"Of course," Kureha continued on with her tirade. "Even if it weren't for that, you'd still be an outcast in this land..."
"Hmph, as if the doctor-hunts could ever catch me. Just you watch..." Hiluluk wheezed at her, determination etched on his gaunt face. "I'll cure this country one day with my medical skill!"
Kureha grinned at him and lifted an eyebrow. "Cure? Don't you mean destroy...?"
"There's someone on the bridge, sir!" The Guard had found them, damn!
"See you some other time, Quack!" Kureha hopped off the bridge and into the night.
Hiluluk threw a bomb over his shoulder and raced off in the opposite direction. "Not if I can help it, Highway Woman!" An explosion blossomed behind him as he ran away from the flustered guards.
OoOoOoOoO
He didn't have a name. He had fur. He had muscle. He had a blue nose. He normally had antlers, but at the moment, they were receded into his skull. He had eaten the 'Human Human Fruit', he knew that much. But he didn't know what he was. His herd had rejected him, his blue nose and human mind making him an object of hatred and disgust to them. The humans had shot him and left him there for dead, afraid and disturbed by him. So he wasn't a reindeer, and he wasn't a human, and he had nothing.
"Hm? Who're you...?"
Someone had walked up to him as he lay bleeding out in a blizzard-decorated forest.
"Severe blood loss from gunshot wounds... He'll die if I don't stop the bleedings soon...!"
Human. It was a human. Dressed in a cloak and hat, holding a briefcase. With what little strength he had, the creature turned his head to the side and glared at the human. Go away. Don't come near. Hurt. Humans hurt him. Rejected him. So he'll hurt the humans.
"No need for angry glare, it'll be alright. I'm here to help you!"
Help? The human was going to help?
"What are you, by the way...? You don't look human to me... Ah, maybe you're the abominable snowman the whole town's been making a fuss about..."
Snowman? That was what the humans who had hurt him had called him.
"Ah, you're in luck! I just happened to make an ointment that can heal even broken bones 3 days ago." The human reached into his briefcase. There was a noise of soft snow crunching as he tossed aside a gun and began rifling through-
Gun. He had a gun. The human had a gun. Gun. Gun. Guns hurt. Guns hurt him. Humans hurt him. Humans with guns hurt him. The human was going to hurt him.
Animal instinct allowed him to regain some strength as he slammed the human down with a gorilla-like fist. He roared his warning cry as he let another fist connect to the man. The man went down and stayed down, blood caking his face. Good. He wasn't going to let the human kill him. He trotted away on all fours, his body twitching in protest at any movement, blood dripping down through his fur and dotting the snow.
"Hey you! Wait!" Stupid human. The human should've known better than to mess with him after that. He hadn't even gone more than a few feet away! He turned around to face the human again.
The human who was standing, legs splayed out, arms shooting out in surrender. He had abandoned all his clothes and was now standing completely naked in the freezing snow, furless, unprotected, snow swirling around him. "I would never, ever, shoot you!" The human's limbs shook with cold, and his teeth clattered together. His skin was red as his body tried any way it could to keep warm. "My name is Hiluluk! And I'm a goddamn doctor!"
OoOoOoOoO
He rose up under the covers he had been placed under, now a dwarf compared to his previous size, and looked around. He had passed out from blood loss and pain. But it was no longer cold. It was warm where he was. Bandages were wrapped around all of his body. He hurt, but it was no longer the piercing pain like from before. It was the aching pain of healing wounds. He looked around. To his left was the human, the doctor. He was wrapped in a heavy blanket and sitting on a chair, snoring and occasionally sneezing. His hat was gone now, and he could see the man's cross-shaped hair and gaunt, peach-fuzz-covered face. The creature's stomach rumbled. To his right was a glass of water and a loaf of bread. He picked it up and chomped down on it.
He didn't have a name. He had fur. He had hooves. He had a blue nose. He had antlers. He was a reindeer who had eaten the 'Human Human Fruit.' He had tears leaking down his face and onto the bread he was eating. And now, for the first time in all his life, he had just been shown kindness.
OoOoOoOoO
"What!? You can talk!? The hell were you silent for for 3 whole days, then!?" Hiluluk jumped with surprise as his new little patient had spoken.
"I thought you might not like me anymore if I talked..." The little reindeer looked down at the floor in shame. "I tried talking to humans once before... But they shot me in return. A reindeer that can talk is just a freak..."
Hiluluk scoffed. Just what kinda heartless person would ever do that to this cute little guy, huh? "So what if you can talk? It ain't nothing weird or unique. I can talk too! In fact, I can talk circles around you."
The reindeer twitched. It... It was okay for him to talk? He wasn't a freak...? He was normal?
Something behind the pair had begun making a hissing noise, and Hiluluk looked at it in fear. "Aghh! Take cover, Chopper! It's gonna blow!""
What? Chop-
BOOM!
An explosion knocked the two out of the cave in the side of the mountain and out onto the snow below. Both of them sat up.
"Whew! Close call...! Another failure, huh..." Hiluluk said as a pan came flying out of the cave and bonked the reindeer on the head. "You alright?" Hiluluk turned to him and laughed. "Ehe heh... What am I saying, you're already covered in bandages! Ehe heh heh heh heh heh!" Another piece of debris fell down and hit Hiluluk on the head, as the reindeer was also gifted with a piece of debris hitting him as well.
"...Why did you call me Chopper?"
The doctor leaned back and smiled. "Tony Tony Chopper. A fitting name for a reindeer with strong looking horns that could even bring down a tree... Like it? 'Cause that's what I'll call you from now on!"
"Chopper..." Chopper tested out his new name. He had just been given a name by this strange, human. It felt right. He laughed like the doctor. Like his friend.
OoOoOoOoO
"Both you and I are outcasts..." Chopper sat on the bed, watching the doctor mix strange chemicals together in his lab. "We've both endured our fair share of hardship for being the nails that stick out! But don't resent humans for that, Chopper." The reindeer listened attentively, taking in every word the doctor spoke. "The kingdom is sick presently. The king, the government, and even its own people... Their hearts are all ill..." Chopper didn't really understand what Hiluluk meant. How could a kingdom be sick? Regardless, he still listened. "They say there's no cure for a sick kingdom, but I beg to differ! Listen to me, Chopper." The doctor turned to the reindeer, who's ears perked up. "Once upon a time, there was a thief from a certain kingdom in the far west and he was diagnosed with a grave heart disease... Luckily for him, he had all the money in the world to be treated by the finest doctors in the world." Hiluluk looked grave and closed his eyes. "But none could cure the man's disease. They all gave up, calling it incurable. Frustrated that he could do nothing but await his final moment, the man decided to climb a certain mountain. It was then he witnessed a most phenomenal sight that halted his very breath for a moment. Can you guess what he saw?" Before Chopper could even try to guess, the old doctor's face broke out in the most wondrous smile that the reindeer had ever seen on a human. All at once, Hiluluk went from a grave old man telling a sad tale of death to an enthusiastic story-weaver, relating to anyone who would listen to him the most exciting story that had ever reacher his ears. "Cherry Blossoms! A mountain full of the prettiest cherry blossoms he ever saw! And to his surprise, the next time he visited a doctor, he was told thus: 'Your body is completely healthy.' He was healed!" Hiluluk gestured his fists up in victory, a grin of triumph decorating his face. "It was a miracle! It had to be a miracle! Or was it!? Could there be a medically sound explanation? Could it be that the man's sheer astonishment had triggered some natural mechanism of his body? That must have been what cured the supposedly incurable disease! Amazing, isn't it!?"
Chopper gulped. It was amazing. It was the most amazing story he had ever heard. The miracle cherry blossoms that had cured the dying man. He could feel something strange in his chest, a strange feeling in his heart. Was this what the man had felt? If he had some sort of incurable disease at that very moment, it surely would have been cured, too!
Hiluluk's smile grew wider, and he slammed a palm against the flag draping the wall behind him. "In other words, there are no incurable diseases in this world! So no matter what anyone says, I'll cure this kingdom even if it's the last thing I do! Thus, I shall tout this flag of skull and crossbones in the face of every disease that exists in this world!"
"Skull and crossbones...?" Chopper titled his head to the side, confused.
"That's right! This skull here laughs at the impossible! It's a symbol of unwavering conviction! With this flag, I shall fight on like a true pirate!"
"What's a pirate?"
Hiluluk smiled proudly at the reindeer, glad to answer any question he asked. "The seas are full of proud men called pirates! You should venture the seas one day too! Then you'll realize how small your worries are!"
"Really?" Were his worries really that small?
"Cross my heart and hope to die." The man made a small circle between his index finger and thumb. "This island is as small as the circle I'm making when compared to the world."
"Really!?" Was the world really that big!?
"No wait!" Hiluluk made the circle smaller. "It's more like thiii~iiis small!"
"Really!?"
"Yup!"
It was on that day that Chopper learned how big and beautiful the world was.
OoOoOoOoO
When the doctor next went out, Chopper insisted on coming with. He wanted to see the whole world, but first, he had to see the whole island.
"Chopper, just go and rest back home." Hiluluk argued with him. "I don't want you to come crying to me when your wounds reopen because of your carelessness."
"They won't reopen."
"That's for your wounds to decide, not you! I hear Robert is urgently in need of a doctor so I've got to take off."
Chopper giggled, ecstatic. "Then I'll help!"
The doctor glared back at him. "Fine, do what you want."
When they came upon the town, Hiluluk motioned for Chopper to knew down beside him, behind a stone fence, blocking them from view of a company of guards stationed there.
"What's with the lack of guards these days?" The company's leader asked, frustrated.
"Well, you see, sir, most of us have been busy mushroom-hunting under the MD-20's orders..."
"Mushroom hunting?"
"Yes, apparently there's some rare mushroom in this kingdom that can be used to prepare some sort of panacea..."
Hiluluk hummed with interest as the two eavesdropped on the conversation.
"Mushroom?" Chopper asked. What was a mushroom?
"Well, aren't I in luck? With so little guards, this job should be a cinch." He adopted a devilish grin on his face, happy with his circumstances. "Let's go, Chopper! Our patient is waiting."
All in all, the day could've gone worse. There thankfully weren't any new injuries to his patients this time, and they got away with only minimal property damage, too! The pair arrived home by arguing and getting into a fist fight, Chopper angry over Hiluluk's use of the 'decoy plan', which was the doctor kicking the reindeer into the group of guards chasing them.
"It's your own damn fault for following me even after I told you not to!"
"What kind of doctor kicks his own patient!? I could've died, you know!"
"If it weren't for me, you would've already been dead! Damn blue-nosed poor excuse for a reindeer!"
"Don't called me blue-nosed!"
Eventually, the two tired themselves out with their fighting.
"Doctor..." Chopper managed to huff out.
"Hmm?"
"That was the first time I've gotten into an argument like this..."
Hiluluk grinned at the antlered creature, pride clear on his face. "Eheh heh heh... I suppose it would be. An argument requires a partner, after all. Well, there's a first time for everything. Including..." The old man reached around and tossed something at the reindeer. "Your first present, and your first making-up after fighting."
Chopper looked down at his first present. It was a hat shaped like the doctor's, only shorter, pink, and with a white 'X' on the face of it. He sniffed as tears formed in his eyes, moved by the doctor's continued kindness.
"Crying again?" Hiluluk laughed.
Chopper clonked him on the head, moved by the doctor's mocking. "I'm not crying!"
"Hey, you can't turn into your giant form! That's cheating!"
OoOoOoOoO
The two continued to live in that mountain cave together, the doctor caring for the reindeer's injuries all the while. Chopper helped Hiluluk with everything, from experiments at the small lab table, to patient visits in the nearby towns, and subsequent escapes from the angry townsfolk. It was the greatest time of either of their lives. All they had in the world was each other, and that's all they really needed. Chopper had never had a friend before, but now, he had a family.
It was a full year after the two had met that Chopper had recovered.
"After a full year of treatment, I now declare you're in perfect health!" Hiluluk took the final bandage off of Chopper's face. "Congratulations, Chopper."
"Thanks, doctor!"
The doctor smiled and turned from the reindeer. "Take care, then... You're discharged from my care."
"Huh?" Chopper's smiling face immediately fell. What was the doctor talking about?
"You've been fully treated, haven't you!? So I've got no obligations to keep looking after you anymore." There was a strange cracking in Hiluluk's voice that Chopper had never heard before. "Now go spend the rest of your life however you want. Just get out of my lab, I've got work to do."
OoOoOoOoO
"Doctor~!" Chopper screamed out through the swirling snow at his home that he had just been kicked out of, tears streaming down his face. "I promise I won't ever be a bother, so please let me in!" He screamed as loud as a reindeer could, his voice echoing around the area. "I promise I'll massage your shoulders everyday, pour you tea, and even do the cleaning! So please! Please let me back in! I've got no friends and no place to go! Please, doctor!"
But Hiluluk ignored the young boy's cries, ignored the feeling of his heart being rent in two. But he couldn't ignore the crashing sound of a tree falling down. "Chopper!?"
"Look!" Chopper proudly and painfully pointed to the new cut on his forehead, blood streaming down his face. If it meant he could continue to live with the doctor, he would hurt himself as many times as he could. "I'm injured!"
A bullet grazed his cheek, taking fur and skin with it.
"W-What's wrong, doctor...?" What had he done wrong? Why was this happening? Why?
"Get lost!" Hiluluk pointed a shotgun at him, his aim shaky. "I don't care if you leave for the seas or whatever! Just make sure you never show your face around here ever again!"
And Chopper ran. Chopper ran away from his home, from his only friend, from his family. Hiluluk let loose a sob as tears poured down his face.
"Forgive me, Chopper...!" He couldn't live with himself if he let Chopper see what would happen to him.
He supposed it was a good thing, then, that he didn't have that long to live.
OoOoOoOoO
Hiluluk coughed up a handful of blood from his lungs to his palm, and stared off into nothingness. "I'm... Going to die, aren't I...?" He asked his doctor.
"Hee hee hee hee... Yes..." Kureha wouldn't face him. "Yes, you will..."
"In three to four days, I take it?"
"Oh? I'm surprised a quack doctor can actually figure out how long he's got."
"Is there anything you can do to help me? I'm sure with your skill, you can manage to even extend it, if even just a tiny bit longer."
Kureha lifted up her sunglasses to get a good look at the quack doctor. "Still can't let it go? It might be a lot easier and less painful if you just bit the dust already." She laughed.
"I still have work left to finish." Hiluluk glowered. "I only need a little more time... I have to finish the work I've spent over 30 years on."
Kureha laughed again and sauntered over to her fellow doctor. "If you want to live so badly, why don't you go to that country out in the far west again? Maybe there, you can see your little miracle Cherry Blossoms again. The ones that saved the great thief Hiluluk."
Hiluluk gritted his teeth and turned his gaze away from her. "There's no use for that, because I'll bring the Cherry Blossoms here to this island instead!"
The older woman let out one short, derisive bark at that. "Ridiculous... Did you forget this is a Winter Island, where it's freezing cold all year long? Ain't no Cherry Blossoms ever gonna bloom here!"
"They will bloom!" The quack bit back at her. "Those Cherry Blossoms not only saved the worthless life of a crook, but cleansed his very soul... I was personal witness to its miraculous healing powers!" He clenched his weakening, dying fists, the hands that had stolen so much, and the hands that he would use to give so much back. "Such miracles are indeed a reality in this world of ours! And I want to prove it on this island, where I was born! I'll show that it's possible to save anyone in this world! But I need time... Just a little more time...!"
"You just don't know when to call it quits, do ya?" Kureha tutted and shook her head at her foolish old friend. "What you're trying to do is neither medicine nor science." She was aware of the small, reindeer-like creature staring through her window, but didn't do anything about it. "Even if Cherry Blossoms did bloom here, the people will remain unchanged." She turned back, and the reindeer was gone. "By the way, what is that weird monster that seems to be following you?"
"What!? It's following me?"
"Looks like it. It's been lurking outside my house ever since you came. It's been trying to keep itself hidden..."
OoOoOoOoO
Chopper ran as fast as he could, and then some. The snow kicked up behind him as he dashed through it. Not paying attention to anything but his racing thoughts, he slammed right into a tree. Undaunted, he took off again, slamming into tree after tree, and each time getting up to move again.
So the doctor was dying. Chopper could have never guessed that. And the doctor was actually the sick man from the cherry blossom story. That, to be honest, Chopper had suspected, but he never brought it up. The doctor was such a kind man, in his own way. He had kicked Chopper out because he didn't want the reindeer to see his only friend die. Even though it hurt him so much, he did it anyways, so Chopper didn't have to get hurt.
But the doctor wasn't going to die. Chopper wouldn't let him. The door to the lab was unlocked when he arrived. Tearing apart the bookshelf, he quickly found the book he was looking for. He grabbed some other supplies to sustain him for a few days and put everything in a blue backpack. The doctor had always said it wasn't stealing if you were gonna give it back. Then, he was off.
He trekked through the frozen tundra of the Drum Kingdom. He jumped over hills and he walked through the darkest caves. He walked over thin, cracking ice and he crawled along sheer cliffs. He fearlessly bounded through every obstacle in his way, only one thing on his mind. The doctor. He was doing it all for the doctor. Even when he came upon his old herd, the one that had kicked him out because of how he looked and who he was, and even when he shook with fear and his instincts told him to run away, and even when the leader of the herd kept ramming him with those sharp, massive antlers, he refused to stop. He pressed on through it all, through all the cold and blood and pain. For the doctor.
And he finally came upon his goal. The healing mushroom he had heard about nearly a year ago. The Amiudake Mushroom was right before him. Just past the widest, deepest ravine he had ever seen. How was he going to get over there?
Behind him was his old, enraged herd, about to attack him again. In front of him was a near-bottomless ravine. There was no way he could jump it, he would get himself killed. Chopper thought about only one thing, though.
The doctor. He was doing it all for the doctor.
OoOoOoOoO
It had been a week since he had kicked Chopper out. Kureha had bought him some time, but not much. He had to do it then. He had to.
There were two weak knocks at the door. Who the hell could it be? He hadn't sent for anyone or anythi-
"C-Chopper!" What was waiting behind the door for him nearly made his heart fail. "W-What happened to you!?"
He was caked in blood. His left antler had broken off somewhere, and was nowhere to be seen. His left eye was swollen shut, and his left leg was broken and bent at an angle it shouldn't have been. As Chopper hobbled forward, he held out a mushroom to Hiluluk and said only one thing: "Mushroom."
"That's... The Amiudake Mushroom..." The dying man couldn't believe his eyes. "Did you... Pick it for my sake...?"
"Please live, doctor... I want to become a doctor too!" His eyes began to water as he begged for what couldn't possibly happen. "So please live and teach me how to become one! That is, if it's possible for a reindeer to learn..."
A strange noise escaped the doctor's lips, then. One Chopper had never heard from the man, but had heard from himself many times. A sob. "Of course you can, Chopper." Hiluluk's voice rumbled with emotion as he embraced the reindeer and held him tight. "How could someone so kind be unable to become a doctor...!?"
OoOoOoOoO
"Well?" A newly bandaged Chopper leaned in excitedly. "Does the Amiudake Soup taste good?"
Hiluluk stuck his tongue out in disgust, "Blegh- It tastes terrible!"
"WHAA~~AAT!?"
"Eheh heh heh heh..." The doctor laughed at his young protege's surprised face. "Don't worry, good medicine is supposed to taste bad. That's just proof of their efficiency. Why, I can already feel energy surging through my whole body! Thank you very much, Chopper!"
Chopper's face lit up with relief, then he turned to the lab station behind him. "Doctor, what's that?" One of the globes was filled with a swirling pink substance. "That's the first time I've seen it do that."
Hiluluk turned to where the young reindeer was pointing, and let out a cry. "This is it! This is the reaction I've been waiting for! I've been waiting over 30 years for this!" He held his hands over the globe, as if it were a crystal ball that held his future within. "I did it, Chopper! My research is complete! I can bring the Cherry Blossoms to this Winter Island now!"
The old doctor opened the door to his home and stepped halfway through the door. "Now, stay put while I go out for a little bit. You're in far more critical condition than I am, what with all those wounds of yours!"
Satisfied that the doctor was going to be alright now, Chopper nodded. "Alright."
Hiluluk slammed the door, saying, "Then I'll be off!"
"The doctor was really happy..." The little reindeer thought to himself, giggling with pride. "I actually cured somebody!"
"Hey, Chopper!" Hiluluk opened the door again, as if he had mundanely forgotten something before leaving. "You're going to be a wonderful doctor! I guarantee it!" His face beamed, and Chopper returned his smile.
OoOoOoOoO
"Did you hear, Kureha?" Hiluluk waggled a finger at his associate. "This country's in a real crisis right now."
Kureha peaked one eye at him and scoffed. "Yeah, I heard. The MD-20s have apparently all collapsed from some illness. Ridiculous... Just better to leave things be, It'll solve itself sooner or later." The older woman didn't waste any time getting to the point. "So? What did you come here for today? Couldn't be to say a word of thanks, right? And you still have two weeks left to live..."
"Actually," Hiluluk started, "I have a reque-"
"I refuse."
"I haven't even told you what it is!" The dying man screeched at her.
Kureha lifted her ever-present bottle of sake up to her lips. "Well, none of your requests ever pay out for me." Regardless, she caught the bag that Hiluluk proceeded to toss at her. When she spilled the contents out onto her palm, however, her confusion grew. "The hell? Is this dirt or something?"
The quack's face broke out in one of his world-famous grins. "That, my dear Kureha, is the result of over 30 years of my medical research! It's the panacea that will cure even the sick heart of this country!"
Before she could even question his sanity, Hiluluk explained the workings behind his bag of dirt.
"I see..." Kureha droned when he was finished. "Congratulations, then. That's quite the pointless 30 years you've lived. So... Why're you giving this to me?"
"I don't have enough of that dust, nor any time left. So I want you to make the cherry blossoms bloom in my stead."
"What!? Why the hell do I have to do such a ridiculous th-"
"And one more thing!" The doctor continued. "I want you to teach Chopper medicine! He wants to become a doctor!"
"Enough is enough!" Kureha shouted at her dying patient. "Do you think you're in any position to demand things from me!?"
Hiluluk bowed as low as he could. "He may be a naive reindeer, but I know he can become a great doctor one day! He's a good-natured kid...! He even risked his life to make me some medicine...! So please, teach him how to become a doctor!"
The woman had had enough. "Get out of my house! You've tested my patience for far too long!" She poured out to him. "Demanding me to continue your ridiculous research and look after your weird pet!? You should know better than to think I'd take pity on you just because you're on the verge of death! Now get out!"
So he was literally tossed out. "Yes..." The quack doctor started, staring at the slammed-shut-door of his friend's house. "I do know better than anyone how you'll act... I'll be counting on you, then..." Hiluluk shakily stood on his weakening knees. "Eh eh eh eh... I know just how kind one needs to be to pursue a life of saving others... Doctors are all good-natured people in the end." And Doctor Hiruluk took one final look at Doctor Kureha's home before turning away. "Take good care of Chopper..."
OoOoOoOoO
Kureha turned and turned around the bag in her fingertips as she turned and turned around the mind in her skull. "After all that talk about saving this country you give up and ask me instead...? Are you saying you can't accomplish anything, even with the two weeks you still have left...?" No, that hypothesis was incorrect. Even after years of her telling him that he was a hopeless quack, that man never gave up. "That's not like you at all..."
"-Nor any time left-"
"Don't tell me... That idiot couldn't possibly be thinking of...!"
"Did you hear, Kureha? This country's in a real crisis right now."
OoOoOoOoO
"It's Doctor Hiluluk! Arrest him!
"As if I'd let you!" Said doctor protested against his screaming pursuers and screaming lungs. He ran towards the lifts up to the castle, and the crowd surrounding them. "Move it, you lot!"
"Doctor Hiluluk!?"
The quack pulled out two bombs and held his briefcase in between his teeth.
"He's carrying bombs! Run for it!"
"Take this!" Hiluluk threw the bombs towards the crowd, scattering them.
"That quack is out of control!"
The doctor ran into the lift and pushed a pistol up against the controller's cheek. "Get this lift up to the castle!"
"Wha-"
"I said take me up to the castle!"
OoOoOoOoO
Kureha slammed open the door. "Where's Hiluluk!?"
"Ah- Oh no!" A small reindeer in the back ran to hide.
"No need to hide, I ain't gonna eat you. And I already know who you are. Just tell me where Hiluluk is right now!"
Chopper twitched to a stop, splaying his arms out to his left. "T-The Doc said he'd be out for a bit... He's all recovered from his illness, so maybe he's in the town..."
"Recovered? That ain't no illness you can 'recover' from. It's incurable with the medicine available today. Didn't you hear it yourself while eavesdropping at my place?"
"B-But," The reindeer waggled a mushroom at her, "Doc said he got all better after drinking the soup made from this!"
The old woman's eyes widened. "Is that... The Amiudake Mushroom!?"
Chopper grinned, proud of himself. "It's the ingredient for a panacea, so he's all better now! He can live and teach me how to become a doctor!"
Kureha could've sworn she felt something in her chest snap. "Hiluluk..."
OoOoOoOoO
"Can't this thing go up any faster!?" It felt like his insides were killing him. "I don't have any time left! Hurry it up! I'm fighting for every last minute and second here, so move it!"
OoOoOoOoO
Kureha's fist caught Chopper on the forehead, and he went spinning through the air and to the floor.
"You stupid reindeer!"
He got back up and covered the fresh wound with his hooves. Hurt him. The human hurt him. She swung her other fist out and sent him spinning down again.
"Wha-"
"That mushroom you fed him..." Kureha gasped and struggled to explain through her tears. "Was a poison mushroom! Eating one will kill you within an hour!"
"That can't be... I even looked it up in a book." Chopper looked around for an answer. "It's a mushroom that can heal everything!"
"That's right! This skull here laughs at the impossible! It's a symbol of unwavering conviction! With this flag, I shall fight on like a true pirate!"
The reindeer grabbed a book and flipped open to the page on the Amuidake Mushroom, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "See, look! The picture for this mushroom has a skull next to it!"
Kureha froze.
"Doc even said he's all better now! So there's no way he could die, you liar!"
"He's a good-natured kid."
The old woman sighed and placed her face in her hand. "That was just him appreciating your efforts... But you have to understand... Skull and Crossbones are a symbol for poison!"
"You're lying!"
"I'm not lying..." Kureha knelt down to the reindeer's level. "Listen to me. There's no magical panacea that can cure everything in this world. That's precisely why we need doctors! Kindness alone can't save people! You need knowledge and medical skill to go along with it! Without it, you can't save a single person!"
A wracking sob worked its way up Chopper's throat.
"Did you... Pick it for my sake...?"
The sob broke its way out of Chopper and into the air.
"You foolish little reindeer..."
And with an outcry of emotion, the reindeer's heart broke.
"He won't ever return to this house... He's already decided on the castle as his grave."
OoOoOoOoO
"Even in my last moments, I have to do all I can do to save the sick and suffering! That is my duty as a doctor!"
Hiluluk had made it to the castle.
OoOoOoOoO
"Stop right there! What're you planning to do!?"
With a cry, Chopper made a mad dash out the door.
OoOoOoOoO
"Guide me to where the sick are! I've come to cure the MD-20!" Hiluluk declared, and immediately coughed out a glob of blood. Looking up from the hand he coughed into, his eyes widened. "What...!? What's the meaning of this..."
"Mahahaha! Still can't realize it!?" The King, Wapol, laughed at the quack doctor. "This is a trap! The MD-20 are perfectly fine, as you can see for yourself!"
It was true. Behind the King, Hiluluk could see all 20 of the King's private doctors, perfectly healthy.
"All you've come here for is to meet your death, Doctor Hiluluk!"
Hiluluk could see one of Wapol's most trusted men- He could vaguely remember his name as Dalton- biting his lip in shame and anguish.
"Your crimes are heavy for defying my royal will for so long! Commence the execution, guards! Take aim!"
Hiluluk could see the castle guards leveling rifles at him, he could see 2 more of Wapol's trusted men mocking him.
"Is that so..." The dying doctor's knees finally gave out on him as tears poured out onto his cheeks. "Thank god. Nobody's sick..."
The riflemen all froze. Dalton made some sort of pathetic-sounding noise in the back of his throat. Every single one of the MD-20 stiffened.
"Here I was, thinking that the country was in crisis... But it was all just a little trick instead..."
The cruel king laughed at the quack doctor. "Mahaha! If this country really were in crisis, a quack doctor like you would be the last person I'd want to come! Ignore the quack's worthless banter and shoot!"
"Stop." Hiluluk held up a hand and all obeyed. "You people can't possibly kill me."
"What!?"
As the doctor's face began to blotch an unhealthy purple, he broke out in a grin. "When do you think a person dies...?"
Far away, but not that far, a reindeer panted through the snow, crying the doctor's name out into the apathetic flakes.
"When his heart is pierced by a bullet? No... When he is inflicted with an incurable disease? No...!"
The reindeer jumped up to the lift platform, and with perfect balance, ran across the rope up to the castle.
"When he drinks soup made from a poisonous mushroom...? No!"
Kureha sat back at Chopper and Hiluluk's house, staring at the bag that would cure the wretched island that she lived on. The townspeople all pointed at the reindeer who ran up the lift's rope.
"A man dies when he is forgotten!" The dying man opened his briefcase and pulled out a cup and a beaker of liquid. "Even if I'm gone, my dream will come true. The sick hearts of this country's citizens will be saved...!" He looked over to his side and crooked an eyebrow. "Why the tears, Dalton?"
And like the snow, tears fell down a man's face, a man who has served a sick king he had lost all hope for long ago, and was just realizing it now. "Can the same be said for the country as well...?"
"Eh eh... As long as there are those to inherit the Will..."
"Mahahaha! The hell are you crying for, Dalton!?"
"A monster shall soon come here." Hiluluk grinned in love and pride. "He is my son, so don't lay a hand on him." He rose his cup into the air to toast the dying country. "Don't worry, Chopper. I won't die from your mushroom..." And Doctor Hiluluk drew in his last breath to shout into the air: "Truly! What a spectacular life it's been!" And he drank. "Thank you, Chopper."
BOOM
An explosion rocked the mountaintop the castle was situated on. The force knocked the whole of the viewing party back several feet. A single top hat floated down and came to rest in front of a single reindeer.
"Mahahahaha! He blew himself up on his own!" The sick king bellowed out a healthy laugh. "Maaaaahahahaha! A fitting end for the looniest loon I ever knew! Mahahaha!"
Chopper felt a rage like he had never felt before. With a feral cry, he morphed into a human-like form and charged forward to kill the man who would dare mock his father.
All at once, the bull-human form of Dalton rushed forward to stop the reindeer-human form of the monster.
"Wait!" Dalton grappled the reindeer down onto his back as cheers erupted behind him. "Get away from here! If you can't even beat me, there's no way you can take on the rest of them!" The cheers stopped. "If it's about them laughing at Hiluluk's death, I apologize...! But you'll only die a dog's death by jumping in! Don't-" The regretful man sobbed as his tears dripped down unto Chopper's face. "Don't become another sacrifice to this country! I beg of you!"
And the monster slipped out from under Dalton- who reverted to his human form- and ran away from the scene.
"How dare you let him escape, Dalton!" Wapol raged at his treacherous underling. "You realize what the punishment for defying a king's order is, don't y-"
"Enough! Don't you realize!? The only man who wished to save this country died just now! While others have long given up on this country and thought it hopeless, there was one kind doctor who surprisingly endeavored to save it! But that man has now perished!"
"So what if one quack doctor died!? If you're going to apologize, I suggest you do it now, Dalton."
"I now see clearly the fate of this kingdom... Inevitable ruin."
"What!?"
"As long as we continue to trample the people beneath our feet, this country can never be fixed! No matter how advanced the doctors of this country and their medicine are, this country's doomed fate shall not change!" Dalton took a deep breath and said the thing he'd been wanting to say for a long time: "Because there is no cure for a fool!"
King Wapol rumbled with anger. "How dare you... You should be well aware of what happens to those who truly anger me... Right, Dalton...?"
OoOoOoOoO
"Please! Teach me to become a doctor!"
Chopper waved his father's skull and crossbone flag as he stood behind Hiluluk's makeshift grave.
"I'll become the panacea myself! I'll become a doctor that can cure anything! Because- Because there are no incurable diseases in this whole world!"
Kureha stared at the reindeer. "Doctorine... That's what you're to address me as from now on..."
OoOoOoOoO
"So I've been raising him ever since." Kureha took a swig and turned towards her patient. "So, you remember anythi- Hey...!"
The girl was crying. Tears streaming down her face, she looked as if she held the sorrow of a lifetime of torment.
"Geez, I know it was a sad story, but there's no need to-"
"We have abandoned him."
"...What?"
"The reindeer. We have abandoned him. We have abandoned this country." She buried her face in her hand and brought her knees up to her chest, as if trying to hide from some great shame.
"We have abandoned this world."
OoOoOoOoO
Just the sight of Wapol's face brought a clenching shame to Bear's chest, like the regrets of thousands of generations.
That, and the anger of a thousand suns.
She stepped forward, igniting fireballs in both of her palms. "He's going down."
Before she could even make a move towards him, though, something shot past her.
"Gum Gum-" Luffy's arm stretched back- farther than humanly possible- and then shot forward, his fist giving a direct hit to Wapol's face, causing the king to fly backwards, and his lackeys to shout his name in worry. "-Bullet!"
"Huh? Those guys again?" Sanji had walked out onto the field. "What're they doing here?"
"Wait, you know these guys?" Is what Bear wanted to ask him, but she was too busy picking her jaw up off the floor.
Wapol's lackeys managed to catch him by the legs before he went flying off into oblivion, though he was slammed into the side of the mountain.
Luffy, meanwhile, was walking towards the trio through the powder snow he had kicked up. "You three sure were a big pain in my ass back then..." An absolute look of glee came upon his face as he lifted a fist up to eye-level. "Shi shi shi shi! But now I don't need to hold back anymore~!"
Bear recovered from her shock enough to run over to the pirate. "Hey, hey, Straw-hat! I got two questions for you!"
Luffy turned to her and nodded. "Yeah, sure, I got time." He said as Wapol's two flunkys began delivering some speech to them.
"Okay, one: How do you know these guys?"
"Oh!" Luffy scowled. "That guy tried to eat my ship!"
"He-" Bear started. "He tried to eat your ship?"
Straw-hat pouted and again nodded. "Yeah, he did! What a jerk, right!?"
Bear threw a questioning look at him and was about to interrogate him even more, when-
"How dare you treat King Wapol of Drum with such disrespect and brutality! And how dare you ignore his most trusted advisors and allies!" One of them, an afro'd man, interrupted.
"That's right! We were talking back there, and you completely ignored us! Not only is that disrespectful and rude, but you are in the presence of royalty!" Chastised the second one, a man Bear could only describe as 'zig-zaggy.' "This island and the lives of its inhabitants are subject to the very whims of his regal self!"
Bear scoffed at the trio. "I don't care who you think you are, you aren't deserving of any sort of respect! I've seen the people of this country, and they are in no way well taken care of. For whatever reason, you left this island and abandoned your duty and your people." She pointed an accusing finger at Wapol, who was still down. "You're not a King. You're simply some cowardly brat who happened to be born into power!"
"Yeah, she's right!" Luffy added from behind her. "You guys are annoying as hell!"
"Not exactly what I said, but..." Bear turned back to Luffy. "And, my second question- How the flameo did you stretch like that!?"
"Oh, I ate the Gum Gum Fruit, I'm a rubber man." He answered like it was nothing, stretching the side of his mouth out. "And what's a flamingo got to do with anything?"
"She said 'flameo', not flamingo, you dolt." Sanji grumbled from the side. "More importantly, aren't you cold with just that on?"
"Oh!" The rubber man jolted, realization dawning on him.
"Yeah," Bear added, "You should go get a coa-"
"Wait, that guy's a king!? I thought they were just pirates!"
"You just realized that!?" Sanji screeched at him.
"Where has your mind been for the past five minutes, Straw-Hat!?" Bear yelled back.
"Fools... It seems you've only now realized the folly of your actions." Afro-lacky said darkly from the 'alone and pretentious royal' corner of the scene. "But that is how it is. The man before you is none other than the rightful master of Drum, cast-"
"Holy cow, its cold!" Straw-hat finally exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's what we were trying to say!" Bear shot back.
"It's minus 50 degrees celsius." Chopper helpfully contributed.
"They're ignoring us!" Zigzag-lacky noted.
Then, without warning, Wapol finally rose up from where he was laying with a yell. "Mahaha... Mahahaha..." Blood dripped from the royal's nose. "Strawhat...! You've ticked me off big time... I swear I'll devour every last piece of you now..."
"Uhhh, might want to save the tough-talk. He's gone back inside to get a jacket." Sanji pointed out.
"He's not here!?"
"Hey, blondie." Bear began ignoring the increasingly angry former-king yet again to ask Sanji a question. "What did he mean by 'Gum Gum Fruit'? What kinda fruit make you stretch?"
"Eh?" The blonde titled his head to the side, smoking blowing of the cigarette in his mouth. "A Devil's Fruit, of course."
"Devil's Fruit? I've never heard of that." She crossed her arms and looked to where Luffy ran back into the castle. "So, what does that make him?"
Sanji looked surprised and confused at her lack of knowledge on Devil's Fruits, but plastered a grin on his face all the same. "It makes him a monster."