(A/N: Enjoy!)

Chapter 8: An Outcast's Dream! Hiriluk the Quack!

After escaping the crazed trio, Chopper analyzed the bacteria from Nami's ailment under a microscope. "Day 3. Prognosis, the bacteria were reduced by 30%."

"There you are!" Suddenly, Venus burst into the room with Luffy, startling him into almost dropping his vials. With pure luck, he was able to catch them all with 3 of his limbs, and his antlers, but he wound up in an awkward position, standing on one hoof. Venus cringed, waiting for glass to break, but relaxed when it didn't happen. "Phew."

"Whoa!" Luffy beamed. "You're amazing! Just as you'd expect from a monster!" His grin turned mischievous. "But what happens if I do this?" He walked over, and poked at his furry belly. "Poke, poke."

"What?!" The ticklish reindeer struggled to stay balanced. "What're you doing?!"

"Luffy, stop it!" Venus glared.

He continued poking at him, before stopping and laughing. "So funny!"

"Shut up! Go away!"

Luffy leaned in eagerly. "Won't you become my friend? I really, really like you!"

One of his front hooves wobbled, as he stared in surprise. "Y-your friend?"

"Become a pirate!"

"Please?" Venus held her hands together.

After setting the empty vials down, Chopper backed away nervously. "I'm not interested in pirates at all. And I never wanted a friend!"

Luffy walked closer to him. "If you become my friend, my other friends will all be happy!" Unfortunately, the chase started again. "Wait!"

"Why would I wanna become your friend?! Don't insult me!"

Chopper ran like mad, but he slipped, and fell down the snowy stairs. Luffy laughed, after he caught the vial with his back hooves. "You're definitely funny! I'll definitely make you become my friend!"

In the one room, Sanji approached Nami's bed with a platter featuring a hearty meal. "In order for you to get a healthy smile back, I prepared an exceptionally nutritious dish."

"Thank you, Sanji-kun."

Sanji blushed, as his smile grew. "Though you're still painfully beautiful, even after what your body's been through."

"Good Lord!" Kureha glared from the doorway. "When did you use my kitchen without asking?"

"Madam, the roast over there is for you. It's high in protein, and is good for rejuvena- Ahhh!" He was suddenly kicked to the window, spilling the platter.

"I'm not a "madam". I'm a sparkling single, and still youthful."

"You're still 139 years old, right?" Nami asked with an exhausted smile.

"Doctorine! Help me!" Chopper ran into the room, with Luffy close behind.

"Wait! Hey! Wait!" Luffy called. "Wait!" Chopper burst through the wooden door, which the captain then crashed into. To ward him off, Chopper broke it down with rolling barrels, before hiding behind Kureha's legs. "Wait! Wait!"

"Luffy!" A panting Venus, still exhausted from the mountain climb, staggered into the room. "Wh-why... do you... run so fast?"

"Aren't you supposed to be resting, little girl?" Kureha scolded.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I just- Hm?" She looked up, and stared at the tall woman before her. "Oh!" She quickly straightened up like a soldier on duty, and began talking a hundred miles an hour. "Ma'am, m-my name is Tempeste G. Venus, I want to be the greatest witch in the world, and it would be an honor to learn from a real, old witch like you!" Nami's eyes widened, as Venus quickly bowed respectfully, oblivious to Kureha's annoyance growing. Crap. "Uh, p-please!" She finished with a wide, pleading grin.

It quickly disappeared when Kureha leered down at her with anger. "Did you just call me an old witch?"

"Y-yes? You are one, aren't you?" Nami facepalmed. She was in trouble now.

"No, you little brat!" Her eye widened, as she jumped back. "Watch your mouth! I'm a doctor, and am still in my youthful 130's!"

"S-sorry," She squeaked fearfully, before slumping over in defeat. "I can't believe I climbed up here for nothing," She lamented, trudging back to her bed, "I could've stayed in the village with Usopp, and Vivi."

"Quit your whining."

"Venus-chan, I made this nutritious dish for you," Sanji approached her with another platter.

She perked up immediately. "Oh, looks great! Thanks!"

"Hey, Nami, Sanji! This guy's gonna join us, and become our friend!" Luffy announced, as Venus ate.

"Oh, really?!"

"I didn't say that!" Chopper glared.

"You did," Luffy claimed.

"I didn't!"

"You did!"

"Be quiet, both of you!" Kureha ordered, but was unnoticed.

"Wait! Wait!"

"Friend, huh? How deep a meaning that word has to him. To ask without knowing that..." She turned away from the three. "There was one man whom he opened up to when he was alone. The man's name was Dr. Hiriluk. He was a quack, who gave Chopper a name, and called him son."

"Hold it!"

"Did you find him?!"

"No! We can't find him!"

"That darn quack, Hiriluk! We'll catch him, no matter what! Those're Wapol-sama's orders!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, sir!"

As the soldiers ran off, a certain man hid behind a building. When they were gone, he laughed mockingly, before coughing in his hand. When he drew it back, there was blood. "Dammit!"

"You can't go on like this!" A woman fussed over her ill husband. "Let's call a doctor."

"No. There aren't any doctors in this country, except for the Twenty MDs, who belong exclusively to Wapol."

"We'll beg Wapol and call the MDs. I'll go."

"You don't have to." An intruder burst into the house through the wall. Before them, stood a tall man with white, cross-like hair, a tall top hat, and a bag bearing a Jolly Roger with cherry blossom petals. "I'll examine him."

The man's eyes widened. "Hiriluk!" He frantically bolted upward. "N-no thank you! Please don't! A bunch of people you treated ended up getting worse!"

"Don't be modest." The woman pulled their daughter back, as Hiriluk brushed himself off. "I just developed a wonderful all-purpose drug yesterday." He set the bag down, and zipped it open. "You're lucky." The man whimpered fearfully when he set a pistol aside. "Hmm? It's not what you think. This is a tranquilizer gun; I use it when the patient's pain is severe."

"I-I'm gonna get the guards!" The woman booked it outside.

"Please leave!" The man begged, as Hiriluk grabbed a syringe. "If you want money, I'll pay!"

"I don't take money from sick people. I just want to help you."

"Don't! Stop it! I've got a family!" The concoction was injected into his neck, and his skin suddenly turned green. "Croak! Croak, croak! Croak, croak, croak!" He leaped out through the window, and hopped away like a frog. "Croak! Croak! Croak, croak! Croak!"

Hiriluk watched him in confusion. "Hmm? This is strange. Did I use a wrong ingredient? I thought frog extract would work. Guess it was a failure; oh man. S-sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Hiriluk!" The guards arrived. "Are you there?!" In a panic, he jumped out the broken window. "Hold it!"

"Hold it!"

He mad a mad dash for the bridge, where he saw something strange, and stopped. "Hmm?"

Kureha was sitting on the bridge, chugging down plum sake. "Are you happy, young man? The doctor hunt has come to the final stage. I hear that you and I are the only doctors left in this country." Hiriluk approached her. "Wapol is trying desperately to catch us. Even if that wasn't the case, you're already an outcast in this country, since you're the worst of the quacks."

Hiriluk passed her by, before stopping. "I won't get caught by some doctor hunt. I'll save this country using medical science one day."

"Oh? Didn't you mean to say "destroy the country"?" She jested.

Just then, the soldiers caught eye of them. "There're people on the bridge!"

"I'll see you around, quack."

"I don't wanna see you again, you thieving doctor." Hiriluk managed to slip away, and bore through the snowy wind in the woods. "I'll never get caught! I'll save as many sick people as possible! Hmm?" A strange, humanoid figure covered in fur caught his eye, laying behind a tree. He approached the figure in concern, and noticed his bleeding wound. "You've been shot? We need to stop the bleeding right away, or you'll die!" He growled, but Hiriluk was undeterred, as he opened his bag. "Don't worry. I'll save you!"

"It's a yeti! Shoot him to death!" The villager's commands ran through his mind, as he continued glaring without a word.

"I just made an ointment that even works on broken bones 3 days ago. You're lucky."

"Don't let him get away!"

"Kill him!"

"Shoot him!"

"What are you? You don't look like a human. Oh, yeah," Hiriluk remembered, "You're that yeti that people have been talking about." He took out his tranquilizer gun, which scared his new patient into punching him away with child-sounding yells.

"Yeah! It hit him!"

"It wasn't enough! Finish him!"

He panted heavily, watching the man he knocked out, before he started to walk away. "H-how dare you." Hiriluk sat up deliriously, now angry. "Who do you think... I am?! Hey ! Wait!" The creature turned back, and to his shock, the man had stripped all his clothes off, and had his arms up in surrender. "I will never shoot you!" He stared quietly. "My name is Dr. Hiriluk! I'm a doctor!" Now dizzy from the sedative, the creature collapsed in the snow.

Later, back in his small form, the reindeer woke up, and glanced around at his surroundings. He was in an enclosed room resembling a cave, with clothes drying on a clothesline, medical vials on a shelf, and a sleeping man wrapped in a blanket. He himself was in a comfy bed, with bandages covering his wounds; when he felt the ones on his head, he blushed at his stomach growling. He turned, and was surprised to see a baguette with a glass of milk. As he began eating, tears streamed down his cheeks. "That was Chopper and Hiriluk's first encounter," Kureha recalled.

"So what happened to the reindeer taken in by Hiriluk?" Nami asked, as Sanji poured some coffee.

"What?! You can talk?!" Hiriluk exclaimed. The reindeer nodded, before hanging his head down. "Why did you stay quiet for 3 days?"

"I thought you'd hate me if I talked. When I talked to humans the other day, they shot me, because it's strange for a reindeer to speak."

"You speak, so what?!" Hiriluk scoffed. "I can speak too, a lot better than you can." He screamed in terror when one of his vials started bubbling. "Get out of here! Chopper!"

He perked up at that. "What?"

The resulting explosion knocked them outside the high-up room, and they fell in the snow. "Dammit! It failed again! Hey, are you okay, Chopper?!" He sat up, but a rock to the head sent him right back down. "Hmm? Well, you aren't okay to start with, I guess." He chuckled, before he was knocked down by a rock.

"Why are you calling me Chopper?"

"You're Tony Tony Chopper. After all, you're a reindeer, and have the antlers that could chop down trees. That's a cool name, isn't it? That's what I'll call you."

"Chopper..." He giggled with joy.

The two regained their footing, and walked through the woods. "Listen, Chopper. Always observe patients, and give them proper treatment. Doing so will save people's lives." They gazed at the village from the cliffside. "Let's go! Patients are waiting for me today, once again."

"Get out of here, quack!"

They were thrown out of a house after a treatment failed. "I thought lizard eyeballs would work."

"Never come back!" They ran from another home.

"Go away!"

"Run! It's the guards! Chopper! We'll use the decoy plan!"

"What's that?!"

"Take care!" With that, Hiriluk kicked him back into the angry mob, and ran further ahead.

He landed in front of the horde of guards, who gawked at him. "What?"

"You almost got me killed!" Chopper raged through a scuffle.

"Oh yeah?! You failed to die once already! You clumsy blue nose!"

"Don't call me blue nose!" They soon fell back, panting in exhaustion. "Doctor."

"Hmm?"

"This is... the first time I've fought with someone."

Hiriluk chuckled. "Makes sense. To fight, you have to have an opponent." He stood up, and walked to the counter. "Then, is it your first time for this as well?"

Chopper looked up when a pink hat bearing a white X was tossed to him. "Hmm?"

"I'll give it to you. It's a gift, as a memento of our making up."

Chopper sat up, with the hat in his lap. "A gift? Making up?" Tearing up, he put it on, and his ears and antlers jutted out of the sides of the top. It was a perfect fit. He walked over to Hiriluk, who examined a vial filled with blue liquid.

"We both go through hardships as outcasts, don't we? But don't hold a grudge against humans. This country is sick right now; both the citizens and the king suffer from a sickness of the heart. People would probably say that you can't treat a sick country, but that's not true." He held out a bigger vial with the blue concoction inside. "Once my invention is complete, this country will be saved!" Chopper stared at the vial, as the blue started turning pink. "There used to be a master-thief in a country in the far west. He had a serious heart disease. He went to see every possible skilled doctor, and got treated by them, but no one was able to cure him. After being told he'd die, he passed by a mountain while frustrated and unsettled. There, he saw a sight that he had never seen in his life: Cherry blossoms! He saw vivid cherry blossoms all over the mountain! And then, he went to see another doctor, and was shocked, because he was told: "You're completely healthy"."

"What?"

"He was cured! It was indeed a miracle! Don't you think? But this was unmistakably medical science! By being emotionally moved, some sort of change happened in this man's body!" Hiriluk set the vial down, and walked to the opposite wall. "In other words, there's no disease in this world that can't be cured. No matter what anyone says about me, I'll save this country as a doctor! That's why I raised this skull towards all the diseases!" He presented a black flag bearing the same skull with cherry blossoms as on his bag.

"Skull," Chopper stared in awe.

"This is a symbol of the belief that nothing is impossible! I will save this country as a doctor! By raising this, I'll fight just like pirates do!"

"Hey! Reindeer!" Luffy called out. He stood outside a room, where Chopper hid behind some crates. "Join us, and become our friend! Hmm? Whoa!" He perked up at some fruit on a table. "That looks delicious!" He eagerly ran over, and started gobbling up an apple. "It's cool to be a pirate!"

Chopper listened quietly, as he was taken back.

"Doctor, what are pirates?"

"Pirates? Pirates are incredible guys at sea. They have large, well-trained bodies, and eyes like an eagle. Their voices are like a thunder splitting the sky!"

Luffy accidentally ate the platter, which he then pulled back out, before he continued feasting. Chopper peeked out from behind a crate; he sure didn't match the description he remembered hearing. "Are you really a pirate?!"

"Hmm? Yeah, I am." Luffy swallowed. "Like I've been saying, join us! It's fun to be a pirate! Pirates sing too."

"What? Th-they sing?"

"Yeah. And they dance too!"

"You call that being a pirate?!"

"That's right! And they go on lots of adventures!"

"Adventures? So pirates go on adventures then?"

"Of course! Pirates risk their lives to go on adventures! You can meet lots of amazing people!"

Hiriluk and Chopper admired the ocean from a cliff, the latter sitting on the former's shoulders. "It's cool to be a pirate! There're tons of incredible guys at sea! Chopper, go out to sea someday. If you do, you'll understand very well how small your problems are. This island that you were born on is like this compared to the world." He used his thumb, and pointer finger to form a circle.

"Really?"

"No, it's smaller! Like this!" He shrunk it down. "It's true!" They laughed together. "Your future lies beyond that sea!"

"The good times passed in the twinkling of an eye." Kureha narrated, "And..." She drank some sake. "The time to bid farewell... comes for everyone."

"It took one year. Now your treatment is complete." Hiriluk removed Chopper's bandages. "Your injuries are completely healed, Chopper."

"Yes!" He beamed. "Thank you, Doctor!"

"Well then," He turned away, "Take care."

"What?" Chopper stared in confusion.

"Now, leave!" Hiriluk forced him outside. "Live as you please! I'm busy with my research!" He closed the door on him. "I no longer have any moral obligation to take care of you!"

Tears of despair welled up in his eyes. "Doctor! I'll never cause any trouble! Please let me in!" He pounded on the door. "I'll massage your shoulders everyday! I'll make you tea, and clean the house! Please! Let me stay!" Hiriluk tried to stay strong, memories of the two together flooding his mind, as he kept his back on the door. "I don't have any friends! I have no place to go! Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!"

A loud bang frightened him into opening up. "Chopper!" He looked down at the ground far below.

"Look at this, Doctor," His forehead was bleeding from under his hat, "I'm injured. Hey, Doctor! Look at this!" To his horror, Hiriluk brought out a gun, and cut his cheek with one shot. "Why... Doctor?"

"Go... to the sea! Anywhere!" He continued shooting at him. "Don't ever come back here!" He panted, as the crying reindeer ran out of sight.

Realizing what he just did, he let the gun drop down to the ground, before he started sobbing. "Forgive me, Chopper!"

The three watched silently, as Kureha handled the fireplace, still silently thinking back.

"I'm gonna die." Hiriluk showed the blood he coughed up in his hand.

Kureha laughed. "Yeah, you will."

"Tell me! How many more days do I have?"

"Oh? If you're asking me to examine you, I refuse. You don't have the money to pay my fee."

Hiriluk pointed his gun in her direction. "Tell me!" He demanded.

She turned to sneer at him, before he was knocked over. "You can't kill a person with a tranquilizer gun!" She tossed it to his head. "I'll tell you. You'll die at 5 PM on the 10th day from today. You won't have to suffer anymore." They were oblivious to Chopper spying through a window.

He sat up with a grunt. "10 days. That'll be enough. In 2 days... in 2 days, I'll complete the research I've continued for 30 years. I will... make cherry blossoms bloom in this country!"

"Cherry blossoms? So the research you've continued for 30 years was about making cherry blossoms bloom? The miracle cherry blossoms that saved you, a master thief, long ago?"

"That's right!"

"What?" Chopper's eyes widened. That story was about him?

"You're a fool. This is a winter island, where it's bitter cold year round. Cherry blossoms won't bloom here."

"They will!" He insisted. "I was a hopeless thug, and dying, but I lived on, and was able to have a profound change of heart. Every human in this world can be saved! I'd like to prove it here in Drum, the land where I was born!"

"Listen. What you're trying to do isn't medical science, or any science. Even if the cherry blossoms bloom, it will do nothing to human bodies." To her shock, he threw the door open to leave. "Hiriluk!"

He closed it behind him, and trudged through the wind to find the reindeer. Chopper! We're alike. So I will at least teach you before I die, that there's nothing impossible in this world, and that you can do anything too!

"But the story of these two doesn't have a happy ending."

"I'll show you... the miracle cherry blossoms!"

(A/N: You know the disclaimer.)