(A/N: Thank you so much to the follows and favorites, everyone! :) I can't believe this story has over 9000 views! I honestly didn't think it would become so popular. It really means a lot!)

Through her 'tough' love, Kureha had not only taken the injured Dalton in to be treated, but she had forced both Sanji and Nami back into their beds. Of course Toffee couldn't help but think strapping Sanji down to his mattress was a bit extreme. No wonder the villagers here were terrified of the old woman despite her brilliance when it came to treating the sick and injured.

"Heeheehee! As I thought, his injuries have gotten worse...since he overexerted himself," Kureha voiced after leaving the guest room where it sounding as if she had just finished torturing the cook from the screams of pain he had been unleashing. After taking a long chug from a bottle of sake, Kureha turned her attention on the former soldier. "Dalton...where's the key to the arsenal? You know where it is, right?"

"Key to the arsenal...Why do you need such a thing?"

"It's none of your business."

"The key was...always carried by Wapol from long ago. So if it's still the case, it flew off with Wapol into the sky..."

Key to the arsenal, huh...Toffee pondered, a bead of sweat trailing down her head when seeing the mischievous gleam now within Nami's brown eyes.

"Doctorine...About the treatment fee for our crew...would you make it all free? Also, would you discharge me right away?" Nami inquired sweetly.

"Keh! Did you ask just for the heck of it knowing it's all impossible?" Doctorine scoffed out with a frown, placing her hands on her hips while she leaned forward. "As for my fee, I'll take the entire cargo and money on your ship. And you'll stay here and rest at least for two more days!"

Vivi, who was seated on a stool next to the navigators bed, spoke up her own protest. "Nami-san, she's right! You should be treated all the way!"

"I'll be fine since I don't feel like I'll die!" Nami assured with a grin. Pulling out a key from the white pajama top she wore, Nami spun it around her index finger. "Doctorine, you said you needed the key for the arsenal, right?"

"What?! Why do you have that key?!" Dalton gasped out, sitting up where he stared at the red-haired teen with large eyes. Kureha was also confused, demanding how Nami had come across it herself.

"You can thank Toffee's shadow for stealing this from Wapol~" Nami sung out. Nami might have been pleased, but Toffee tensed up when Kureha turned to glare sharply at her. She was going to end up on the ground with a painful bump like Zoro had earned when he misspoke by calling Kureha an old woman earlier! She just knew it!

Much to the gray haired girls both amazement and immense relief, Kureha marched up to Nami and snatched the key straight out of her hand with pursed lips. "Honestly, you sneaky girls...Okay then...you don't have to pay my fee. But that's all. I can't accept the other term as a doctor."

"Wait a sec! If that's the case, I can't give the key to you! Give it back!" Nami shouted out angrily, holding out her hand.

Flipping back around, Kureha pointed a finger at Nami. "Listen, girl! I have to leave this room now to take care of a few things. There's a drawer chest with my coat in the back room. And it's not like I'm posting guards...Also, that young man's back treatment is already complete. But listen, don't you dare escape!" Turning to the villagers in the room, Kureha finished off, "You guys, come with me. I need you for heavy lifting."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Watching the men obediently follow after the doctor, Nami sighed and shook her head. "She told me to wear her coat, take Sanji-kun, and escape using this chance."

"Yeah...that's how it sounded to me, too..." Vivi spoke quietly, finding this a bit hard to comprehend.

"For such a violent woman, she's actually very kind." Toffee mused, placing a hand on the back of her neck while she smiled.

Night had fallen by the time everyone had gathered in front of the castle to leave. And despite having lost sight of Chopper, Luffy still wasn't ready to depart without him just yet.

"OI! REINDEER! LET'S BE PIRATES TOGETHER!" Luffy bellowed at the top of his lungs where Chopper would be able to hear him wherever he might be. Which just so happened to be outside on one of the many towers that made up the castle.

"Hey, Luffy. Just give up," Usopp voiced with a small frown. "He hasn't shown up after all our efforts to find him."

"He doesn't want to be a pirate," Zoro chimed in.

"That's not true. I wanna take him with us!"

"Like I said, that's what you want, right?!" Zoro screamed at his captain who he felt was thinking selfishly.

"Chopper-kun probably does want to come, but this must be a hard decision for him to make," Toffee brought up with a small smile. "Flying that pirate flag means he does have a love and respect for them, but this is his home. Saying goodbye is always difficult."

"Toffee-san..." Vivi spoke softly, noticing the distant look within the woman's pink eyes. Was she perhaps thinking of her own family that she left behind, the princess wondered?

It almost seemed like Chopper was never going to answer Luffy's call, but the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow caught the groups attention. The small reindeer had approached them, but his hat hid the expression he bore.

"Hey, let's be pirates together, okay!" Luffy exclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air.

"It's not possible!" Chopper cried out, shaking when Luffy mentioned how fun it would be. "But...but I'm a reindeer! I have antlers and hooves. I even have a blue nose! It's true...that I wanna be a pirate, but...I'm not even a human! I'm a monster!"

The poor things still worried about that Toffee pondered with a sad gaze at the reindeer.

"I can't become your friend! So...So I just came to say thank you...I do appreciate you guys. Thank you for asking me to join you. I'll stay here, but...one day if you feel like it, stop by again-"

"Shut up! Let's go!" Luffy declared, leaning back so far his hat fell from his head.

Chopper stared at the lanky male in disbelief, his eyes trembling and filling with tears. Everyone was smiling at Chopper, other than Sanji who was still unconscious and Zoro, who was scowling at Luffy and muttering out, "You don't ask people to join you by telling them to 'shut up'!"

"Go pack your things and we'll wait for you here." Nami told a wailing Chopper kindly. The newest member just nodded at her, still sniffling and wiping at his eyes as he headed inside of his home.

"Hey, Nami. Are you really okay?" Usopp questioned, eyeing the female skeptically.

Grinning and giving the sniper a thumbs up, Nami chirped out, "I'm fine! I'm feeling great!"

"Should we go say good-bye to that granny doctor and the acorn old man, too?" Luffy mentioned, having rolled a large ball of snow that he was now sitting upon. Usopp had started to build a snowman himself, neither of them able to sit or stand still.

"You're so dense. Just let him be with Doctorine alone," Nami voiced, folding her arms. "They've been living together for six years now. There's probably going to be a lot of crying. Doctorine may seem tough on the surface...but she's really a very gentle person."

"Then, we're just gonna leave it like this?" Usopp asked.

"Of course. As soon as Chopper comes out, we'll head down the mountain...and set sail for Alabasta. Vivi, you'll agree with that, right?"

"Yes, as long as we have a doctor." Vivi replied with a smile.

Deciding they should prepare the rope way, Usopp asked Luffy to help him with it where they would have a safe trip back down the mountain. But hearing Chopper's screams coming from the castle after some time had passed, it appeared their departure wasn't going to be a peaceful one.

"Oi, is that him?" Zoro spoke, raising a brow when he saw Chopper racing forward with a sleigh attached to his form that was on all fours, appearing more like a normal reindeer. The shocking part was Kureha was close on his heels, screaming at him and swinging a dangerous looking ball and chain.

"Everyone! Get in the sleigh!" Chopper exclaimed in a panic, not looking back at the woman who had practically raised him and doing his best to sound out her angered cries. "We're going down the mountain!"

"WHAT THE-" all of the Straw Hats shrieked out, many of them wearing looks of fear when the doctor's weapon came close to hitting them.

Scurrying into the sleigh and having to pack together in it-other than Luffy who ended up hanging onto the back-Chopper leaped off the mountain. To the onlookers below, it seemed as if Chopper was flying through the nighttime sky, when in reality, he ran across the rope way; the large full moon shining down on him and lighting Chopper's path.

"Yahoo! That felt great! Let's do it again!" Luffy cheered once they were on the ground. Which Toffee found lightly amusing as for a moment, it seemed he was going to fly off the back if Usopp hadn't grabbed and held onto him.

"Idiot! We're leaving!" Nami scolded.

"I thought I was going to die..." Usopp wheezed out, leaning limply over the side of the sleigh.

"Ugh...Where the hell am I?" Sanji demanded, waking up to find himself laying on the floor of something that appeared to be moving at a rather fast speed.

"Ah, Sanji-san, are you awake?" Vivi asked with a small laugh due to the confused expression he wore, though her face bore relief.

Toffee shook her head with a smile seeing the hearts forming in Sanji's eyes when his gaze landed on the concerned princess, soon blinking when she heard a loud sound, and she placed a hand behind her ear. "That sounds like cannon fire...Is it coming from the castle?"

Chopper had stopped in his pace, reverting back to his small two legged form when noticing a bright glowing light in the sky. Most of the Straw Hats moving out of the sleigh, they stood in awe at the beautiful sight before them. The snow had turned to a gentle pink, resembling falling cherry blossoms; one of the tall mountains even looking like a giant sakura tree.

Seeing the work of the late Doctor Hiriluk, Chopper unleashed a heart-wrenching cry, knowing this was also Doctorine's farewell to both him and his new friends.

After giving the young reindeer a chance to compose himself, the group made their way for the ship where they could still see the pink snow falling even from such a long distance.

"Hey...is Chopper okay?" Usopp muttered where he wouldn't be overheard. The new crew member had just been staring at the fading island since they boarded the Going Merry and set sail, not having said a single word.

"Let's leave him alone for now," Nami suggested quietly.

"He's experiencing what it's like to set out on a journey as a man." Sanji added, closing his eyes and giving a bow of his head.

Taking her small log book out of her pouch, Toffee began to write and draw what had occurred on Drum Island, not wanting to forget a moment of it. It didn't take long for Luffy and the guys to start goofing around, and Toffee smiled faintly as they were trying to coax Chopper to join in with their fun. Though he seemed a bit taken back by the humans antics.

"Are you surprised?" Nami mused with a bright smile, placing her hands on Chopper's shoulders. "You made friends with some really crazy guys, huh?"

"Nakama...?"

"That's right. They're over the top, but since you're one of us now, you'll have to get used to it."

Chopper's nose twitched, and he turned his attention back on the others. Luffy seemed to be trying to get Toffee to try and stick a pair of chopsticks up her nose, claiming it was fun, only for Sanji to pummel him upside the head for suggesting a lady do such a thing. So when the gray haired woman surprisingly did as Luffy asked and the cook fell to the ground with his legs twitching in the air, Chopper found himself giggling behind his hooves.

He then turned his attention on Vivi, who seemed to be talking to a large duck in concern that she cradled in her arms. Vivi had found the poor thing just floating in the water, practically dead. Approaching the two, he listened to Karoo's tale of woe of how he had ended up frozen.

"He says that the guy named Zoro was swimming in the river and disappeared. He thought Zoro was in trouble so he jumped into the river and got frozen," Chopper explained innocently.

"Achoo! Swimming in an ice cold river seems pretty crazy," Toffee sniffled, rubbing at her nose.

"No more crazy than sticking chopsticks up your nose," Zoro snorted out, only to wince when a growling Nami hit him upside the head for putting Vivi's pet and friend in danger.

"Tony-kun, you can understand what Karoo is saying?" Vivi asked with surprise.

"Yes. I'm an animal by nature, so I can talk with animals."

"That's incredible, Chopper! To be able to do that along with your medical skills!" Nami exclaimed in awe.

"Dummy! Praising me like that wouldn't make me feel happy! You jerk!" Chopper cried out, clapping his hooves while dancing where he stood.

"He sure looks happy," Luffy pointed out, crouched down while cupping his face in his hands as he watched their new crew member do his odd little jig.

Zoro's brows lifted at this. "By the way, Nami, what do you mean 'medical skills'?"

"Chopper is a doctor...a first class one," the navigator explained, giving a small pat to a blushing Choppers back. "With all the medical skills hammered into him by Dr. Kureha."

"Didn't you know that when you asked Chopper-kun to join?" Toffee questioned with a tilt of her head when seeing the startled looks on the men's faces. She could understand Zoro and Usopp being in the dark, but Toffee figured Luffy and Sanji knew.

"A seven-from transforming interesting reindeer,"

"Emergency food,"

Chopper turned blue at Sanji's reason for him having joined, yet was soon gasping when he remembered something else. "Ah...! Darn it! I forgot to bring my medical tools since I left in a hurry!"

Nami blinked, showing a blue bag with an X in the middle to Chopper. "Can't be...Then what is this?"

"What? My bag!" Chopper choked out, blinking when Nami explained it had been in the sleigh. Chopper's dark eyes grew misty, understanding that Doctorine had left the bag in the sleigh for him; also recalling how he had turned and swore he had saw sadness within her eyes when he was racing down the rope way. She had chased him off to keep their parting from being a sorrowful one, having already known he was planning to become a pirate...

"After all...she knew everything you were thinking..." Nami added gently, having a good idea what Chopper was thinking. "What a wonderful person she is..."

"Hey, Chopper! You try it too!" Luffy outburst, swinging a set of chopsticks around.

"I hope that's a fresh pair," Toffee laughed out.

"Why? Oh! 'Cause you got snot on them!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Sanji growled out.

Nami huffed, frowning apologetically at Chopper. "Geez...When you're reminiscing...Right, Chopper?" Though the reindeer didn't seem to be listening to her, and she palmed her forehead when he stuck a pair of the long thin sticks up his nostrils with a goofy smile.

The ship being filled with its usual chaos, Chopper didn't seem to mind at all, smiling cheerfully while saying in a slight muffled voice, "I've never had this much fun before!"

Nami blinked at this before grinning seeing the pure joy in the once lonely reindeer's eyes. "Yeah!"

"Let's toast to our new friend!" Usopp rallied, holding up a mug, it's contents being swished about.

"Cheers!" everyone screamed out, holding their own mugs high up in the air.

Their words made Chopper giggle and hold up his own drink, his blue nose twitching happily.