[Author's note: The three poisons Karmen found while searching for a way to help Nami become Karmen's main three weapons. I'm the type of writer that pours hours of research into what they're working on, so you all can join in on the irony that the poisons Karmen uses most are the three that I made up. After this chapter, Karmen and Chopper work closely together in between scenes to ensure she does not use too much poison on herself in one day and what dose will safely incapacitate an enemy.]

Ship's Log 14: Wapol and Chopper

Sanji reported an island not long after we were attacked by a pirate named Wapol (who turned out to be the ex-king of Drum Island). We pulled into a river and were surrounded by trigger happy villagers with rifles. Vivi was grazed but made it possible to seek help. Luffy and Sanji carried Nami to the top of a mountain to find the witch doctor, Kureha, and her assistant, Tony Tony Chopper. Chopper is a blue-nosed reindeer who ate the human-human fruit. He can walk and talk like a person, but he has animal instincts and can change his shape and size at will.

That poison yesterday hit me like nightshade on an apple. When I woke up even Zoro and Karoo were gone. I climbed up into the crow's nest to look for them. A short while later Wapol's men show up and followed the footprints in the snow instead of coming aboard. Lucky me. I decided to work on antidotes for the poisons I found so that I can safely fight with them, should the need arise.

Zoro ended up saving the villagers from Wapol's men in order to get a coat, since he left his here on the ship. Sanji was injured in an avalanche so Luffy carried him and Nami up the sheer 5000 m. cliff side of the mountain. His fingers and toes were torn up when he came back. I'm glad we have such a kind and determined man as our captain.

Nami says her illness was caused by the bug bite she received on Little Garden. It is a disease called Kestia that was meant to be extinct and kills people in five days. Good thing the doctor was 139. I don't think anyone our age would have been able to save Nami. I am relieved beyond words that it wasn't my poisons that made Nami sick, and even more relieved that she is better.

"King" Wapol and his officers attacked the castle where everyone was recuperating, wanting to take back Drum Kingdom after he abandoned his people to pirates. Luffy and Chopper took them out and a man named Dalton became the elected leader of the kingdom.

It seems Chopper's dream is to be a pirate doctor in honor of his late human father, Dr. Hiriluk. With a little convincing, Luffy got him to join our crew. They found Karoo frozen in the river and returned to the ship. Sanji agreed that we could set aside our tea vs. coffee dispute and made everyone hot cocoa instead. Chopper seems to like sweet things. We set sail from the island and the falling snow turned pink like cherry blossoms while we sat toasting our new member and friend.

Karmen double checks the log before looking up again. "Just so I have this straight, Chopper, you're a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Zoan type fruit, a doctor, you can speak to other animals, and you are the most adorable thing I've ever seen." Chopper shifts self-consciously, but seems to be pleased.

"That's a lot to take in at once," Usopp says, looking down at the newest crew member. "It's not every day that you meet a talking reindeer."

"How can you still be talking like that, Usopp." She pours Chopper more hot chocolate. "He's awesome."

"Y-you mean you really like me? Even though I have hooves and a blue nose?" Chopper blushes.

Karmen pulls Chopper close and rubs his hat. "What are you talking about? We're going to be friends, aren't we?"

"Friends?"

She lets him go. "What's the matter? You do want to by my friend, right?"

Chopper smiles tearfully. "I do!"

"Good. Then it's settled." Karmen makes one final note in the log as she watches the pink snow falling. "Your mentor sounds amazing. I wish I could have met her."

Sanji glares over at Karmen. "That woman was a monster."

"Half the people on this ship, including you, have monstrous strength, but no one's making comments about you. Besides. You're the one who insisted on trying to fight with an injured back."

"She drop kicked my spine and sat on me!"

"She fixed it, so I don't see the problem. If it hadn't been for her you'd have been bedridden for half a year. Then where would the crew be? If I tried to cook I'd burn the ship down for sure." Secretly Karmen feels the whole situation is justice for all the poetry she has to listen to on a daily basis, but she keeps this to herself.

Nami smiles. "I have to agree with Karmen. She was scary, but she was a good person. We seem to run into a lot of people like that."

"Luffy collects them," Usopp comments.

"By the way, Chopper, I'm trying to become immune to poisons. Can you help me with doses and making antidotes? I found some poisonous plants that I can't identify and I want to make sure I do things properly."

"Pirates are brave," Chopper says admiringly and agrees to look over her workstation. After sniffing some plants, he finds the small bowl of powder that Karmen had set aside for Nami. He tastes it. "This is Chuchuhuasi. It's used as a muscle relaxer and an anti-inflammatory. It's rare outside of a rainforest."

"I've been calling it fluke-powder," Karmen admits. "I gave it to Nami when she was sick. I was working out of books, trying to make some kind of medicine, so it was a fluke that I didn't kill her."

"It wasn't that much of a fluke," Zoro comments. "You just happened to pick the right plant, that's all."

"It made me more comfortable," Nami agrees. "Thanks again for working so hard to find it."

Karmen blushes and kicks wads of useless research notes towards the trash can. Chopper leans towards three jars that are holding dried plants. "These are the ones you know are poisonous, right?"

"That's them." Karmen nods. "Be really careful with the one on the right." She slides on her gloves and digs through a box of snow in the corner until she finds a sheet of plastic. Beneath it are three slides of Nami's blood. The one on the far right is black. "It seems to have deadly qualities when introduced to the bloodstream. Look at what it did." She carefully places the slide on the microscope and the crew takes turns looking at it.

Usopp shivers. "That doesn't look healthy. I think I'm coming down with the I-Shouldn't-Be-Near-Poisons disease."

"It ruptured and decayed the blood cells," Chopper confirms. "I was taught about this plant, but it's supposed to be extinct."

"We were on an island trapped in the prehistoric age," Sanji explains. "It's where Nami got infected."

Chopper looks at the sheet of plastic as Karmen slaps Luffy away from her bottles of snake venom. "What else?"

Karmen shows him the other two slides. Extinct. Rare. Extinct. The plant in the first jar, sunblade root, would make a target's immune system attack the body, causing them to feel like they were on fire, giving them fever, symptoms of heat stroke, extreme pain, and eventually organ failure. The middle plant, deadbolt vine, locked the cells together, causing paralysis, anxiety, eventual madness, and slow death by asphyxiation after several hours. The third plant, Plucharon, congealed and ruptured the blood, decayed the nerves and tissues, caused rapid organ failure, and kills the victim within twelve hours.

Karmen quickly takes the third jar and locks it in a cabinet with the related extracts. She removes her gloves and drops them into a cleaning solution. "What about these?" she asks, motioning to the previously discarded plants. "They don't affect the blood, so I put them aside for the time being."

Chopper identifies a plant that's oils could blind someone for a week, one that made people sleepy when introduced to the bloodstream, and one that caused the sensation of bugs crawling over a person's skin when ingested. He asked to take some of the flowers, saying they can be used as medicines, and agreed to help her make perfume out of the others. Then he notices a few leaves that are still in the basket. "That plant…" He takes one and bites into it. Half the crew jumps, sure he'll drop dead at any second. He closes his eyes and spins in a happy circle. "This is related to lemon balm. It tastes like lemon candy." Everyone picks up a leaf and takes a bite.

"I can put this in my caapi tea to make it less bitter," Karmen says. Examining her basket, she turns to Usopp. "Did you realize you wove this completely out of deadbolt vine?"

"I did? I mean I did! I, Captain Usopp, remembered you were looking for a paralytic. Thanks to my careful plant knowledge and planning you now have enough to last you a year."

"Wow, Usopp," admires Chopper. "You thought of all that? You're amazing!"

"That's one word for it," Nami sighs. "Did you also wonder if contact between that and the leaves we just put in our mouths are going to have any adverse effects?"

Karmen and Chopper stiffen and everyone looks at the basket in her hands. "Say, Chopper. Be a deer and help me make that antidote real quick, would you?"