(A/N: The story continues! Enjoy!)

Chapter 9: Hiriluk's Cherry Blossoms, and the Will that gets Carried On!

"Hey!" A frustrated Chopper had locked Luffy in another room with a caged door. "What're you doing?! Why am I in here?!"

"It's because you're pestering me!"

"Like I said, just join us!"

"This is exactly what I mean by pestering me!"

"It's fun to be a pirate!"

"I've had enough! Just rest in there for a while!"

"Hmm?"

"Your injuries actually aren't that light either." Chopper backed off, then walked away with a huff. "Geez, what's his problem?" Just then, he realized: the key was gone! "Huh?" To his horror, the door opened, with a chuckling Luffy holding the key. "Why?!" The chase commenced again.

"Wait!"

"What is this guy?! When did he steal the key?!"

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait! Wait!"

Chopper skidded to a stop, letting Luffy crash through the wall, as he sensed something was off. "This smell is..."

"Huh?"

He glared with fury. "Wapol!"

"When he found out that Hiriluk had only 10 days to live, Chopper got quite upset." Kureha hung her head low. "Well, that was only natural. But he took action in his own way."

Chopper frantically ran through the woods. "I'm gonna die. I will make cherry blossoms bloom in this country!" He crashed into a tree, startling himself out of his thoughts. "This is a symbol of the belief that nothing is impossible!" He thought back to one particular moment.

"A lot guards have been absent recently, What's going on?" Hiriluk and Chopper eavesdropped from behind a wall.

"Well, they're out picking mushrooms at the request of the Twenty MDs."

"Mushrooms?"

"They said there's some mushroom that can cure anything."

"Mushrooms?" Hiriluk pulled him down by one of his antlers. "Ah!"

"Hmm?" Dalton turned behind his back, but didn't see him.

"Idiot! They'll see us!" Hiriluk scolded.

"Doctor, about what they said..." At the home, Chopper scoured through the books, creating a mess; he flipped through a particularly thick one, before finding a certain page. He slammed it shut, and ventured outside with determination, holding it under one arm. "I will never shoot you!" He remembered that encounter, then another. "Don't ever come back here!" He stayed quiet through his trek.

While he was gone, Hiriluk returned to the home, staring silently at the mess. 'I did a terrible thing to you.' He went straight to work. 'At least see my cherry blossoms. They'll be my last big work.' Chopper didn't turn back at the explosion, and along the way, he bowed to a Hiking Bear. "Well... here we go again!" Another explosion.

He stopped at a hill, and to his surprise, there was a herd of reindeer.

His herd.

A weakening Hiriluk panted on the ground. "Dammit! I don't have much time left!"

Changing into a form more closely resembling them, Chopper walked through the herd, paying no mind to the leader leering at him. Inevitably, he headbutted him away a few feet. He charged in again, but a motivated Chopper fought back. 'Nothing is impossible for the man who raised a flag with a skull! That's what I told you, right?!' He was launched away again. 'I will fight! Just like pirates do!' Chopper finally ran, ultimately losing them.

At a cliff, he looked around with a telescope, before stopping at a tree. There was a red mushroom growing by its roots. "I found it! The Amiudake Mushroom. That's the one! But..." He glanced back. "How do I get across?" The ravine was much too wide, and deep for him. However, the herd found him again, and the leader was glaring with a vengeance. What to do?

Hiriluk coughed on the floor, with a broken vial in front of him. "Dammit!" He panted. "I'm close... so close!" He turned to the door when the knob turned, before it opened. As he stayed in bed with a gun pointed, a certain someone staggered in, beaten and battered.

"Doctor... I'm sorry... I lost one of your precious books."

Hiriluk stared in shock; Chopper was bleeding badly, his left eye was bruised and swollen, his left leg appeared broken, and his left antler was missing. "What... happened to you?"

"Mushroom..." He weakly held up a red mushroom. "Medicine."

Hiriluk jumped out of bed. "That's an Amiudake Mushroom!" His gun dropped to the floor. "You... got it for me?"

"Please live. Please live, Doctor. I wanna be a doctor. Please teach me how to be a doctor." Hiriluk dropped to his knees. "I'll fight too... just like pirates do!" He was lost for words. "Do you think a reindeer can become one too?"

A sobbing Hiriluk suddenly held him close. "You can! You can! You can! You can be a great doctor."

"Doct- I can't breathe."

He cried in Chopper's shoulder. "Because you have such a kind heart." Chopper smiled through the embrace, and started crying with him. "You idiot!"

"Chess! Kuromarimo!" Wapol called. "Is the doctor hunt going well?!"

"Yes, sir," Chess replied, "Most of the doctors have already been exiled."

"Most?"

Dalton listened on with anger. "There are two that we haven't captured yet. That's Dr. Kureha, and the quack, Hiriluk."

"What'd you say?!" Wapol seethed with fury, before an epiphany came. "Oh, yeah! I've come up with a good idea!"

"Hmm?" They both looked up.

"Send an official notice to the citizens. The Twenty MDs have all... fallen ill," Wapol ordered, as Dalton glared silently.

"Does the Amiudake Mushroom soup... taste good?" Chopper asked.

"Ahhh!" He screamed. "Darn, this tastes terrible!"

"What?!"

"This isn't something that any living thing can eat!"

"Oh no," Chopper's head hung in shame.

"Don't be so down," Hiriluk grinned in assurance, "Good medicine doesn't taste good. This means it's working. Thank you, Chopper." He chuckled, as the reindeer smiled widely. "Huh?!"

"Hmm?" Chopper noticed him staring in shock at something behind him. "Huh?" He turned to look; the spherical vial's contents were bubbling, and turning pink. "What's that?"

"I did it."

"What?"

"I finally did it." He stood, and walked to the table. "This is it! This reaction, I've waited for it for 30 years." He turned back around. "I did it, Chopper! My research succeeded! I wasn't wrong! I wasn't! I wasn't!" He burst outside, and screamed with joy. "I can now make cherry blossoms bloom on this winter island!" Chopper watched, and smiled widely, before he was sent to bed. "Listen. I'm going out, but you stay put, and rest here."

"Okay."

"See you later!"

Chopper watched him disappear behind the door. 'Doctor was happy. I cured a human disease!' He giggled with ecstasy, but then looked up when Hiriluk came back in. "Hmm?"

"You'll be able to become a great doctor. I'll guarantee it." With that, he left again. "Do you know... that the entire country is a madhouse right now?" He asked Kureha.

"Yeah, I know. About the Twenty MDs falling ill, right? Ridiculous! So what brought you here today?"

"Actually, I have a favor to ask-"

"Ahh, I refuse," She cut him off.

"I haven't asked anything yet!"

He handed over a small bag tied at the top, containing pink powder. "What's this dust?"

"That's my 30 years. That's the medical science that I've finally completed! It's an all-purpose medicine that can cure this country's sickness of the heart."

"You've lived 30 fruitless years," She snarked, "Good work. So, why are you showing it to me?"

"There isn't enough dust. I don't have much time left, either; I want you to make cherry blossoms bloom in my place.

"Ridiculous! Why do I have to-"

"And one more thing!" He got in her face. "Please teach medical science to Chopper. He wants to become a doctor."

"That's enough! Why would I-"

He was on his knees at that point. "He's a reindeer, and a monster, but he'll certainly become a good doctor!" He bowed in pleading. "He's a nice guy with a kind heart. He risked his life to make medicine for me! Please! Help him become a doctor!"

"What nerve you have!" She glared. "You want me to take care of your stupid research, and strange pet?! You should know that I'm not someone who'll sympathize with a man just because he's not long for this world! Get out of here!" She kicked him out, then his bag, and shut the door.

"Yeah... I know. We've known each other for a long time." He laughed weakly. "I'm counting on you."

"It's not like you, Hiriluk," Kureha remarked, "Throwing in the towel already."

"I don't have that much time left."

After a moment, her eyes widened in realization. "That idiot! He wouldn't!"

"What do you mean?!"

"The Twenty MDs fell ill!"

"Who'll treat this country's sick people?!"

"At least give us access to medicine!"

"Talking to us won't do anything!" The guards turned down concerned citizens. "Even doctors get sick!"

"Out of my way!"

"Ahh! Hiriluk?!"

He was running in, carrying two lit-up bombs. "Out of my way! Out of my way!" He chucked the bombs at the guards, just in time or them to explode.

They coughed from the thick smoke. "That bastard is crazy!"

Suddenly, he had a gun pointed in his face. "Take the ropeway out," Hiriluk ordered, "Take me to the castle."

Chopper was surprised at the door bursting open. Kureha. "Where's Hiriluk?!" The panicked reindeer began running all over the room in fear. "You don't have to run away! I know about you!" To her chagrin, he didn't stop. "I'm asking you where the quack went!"

Chopper hid feebly behind the table. "D-Doctor got better, so he went to the town."

"Got better? He doesn't get better." She walked up to him, hands on her hips. "He can't be cured with the current medical science."

"That's not true! Look at this!" He held up half of the mushroom. "He's fine now, because he ate this!"

Kureha gawked in horror. "That's... an Amiudake Mushroom!"

"This is an all-purpose medicine! So he's fine now! Doctor said that he felt full of energy too!" She glared. "I will learn to be a doctor from Doctor." Suddenly, a punch from Kureha sent him flying into the wall. "What was that for?" He demanded angrily, then was thrusted up, and thrown into a cupboard.

"You stupid reindeer! That mushroom is..." She choked up, and tears started falling. "That mushroom is... extremely poisonous! Once you eat it, you'll be dead within half a day!"

"What?" Chopper looked back, now terrified.

Kureha collapsed down to sit on the floor. "That's why that idiot..."

"That can't be true. I looked it up in a book... though I lost that book. It's a mushroom that can defeat diseases!" 'That's why I raised this skull towards all the diseases!' "That's right! There was a skull right next to the Amiudake Mushroom picture!" He remembered, as Kureha was silent with despair. "Doctor also said he got better! There's no way he'll die! You're a liar!"

"Paddle faster! Hurry up!" Hiriluk commanded. "Seconds count!"

"He was happy about your thoughts," Kureha recalled, "The skull in the book indicates poison."

"That's a lie!" Chopper glared.

"That's not a lie! Remember it!" She snapped. "There's no medicine that can work for all the diseases in this world. That's why doctors exist!"

"That's not true!"

"Listen. You can't save people just by being kind! If you want to save them, then learn medical knowledge and skills! Without skill, you can't save anyone!" Chopper started sobbing right then and there. "You idiot." She calmly picked up her sunglasses from the floor.

"Wapol-sama! Hiriluk is heading to this castle!"

"So he got tricked!" Wapol laughed. "What an idiot!"

'Is he serious?' Dalton thought. 'Why? What for?'

"He'll no longer come back to this house." Kureha grabbed a bottle of plum sake. "Looks like he decided the castle is his graveyard."

"Take me to the patients!" Hiriluk ordered. "I came to save the Twenty MDs!" But to his confusion, his would-be patients stood around in front of him, in perfect health. "What?"

Wapol laughed evilly, as he sat on Robson in the middle of the horde. "You idiot! You still don't get it?! It was a trap! As you can see, the Twenty MDs are just fine! You came here to die, Dr. Hiriluk."

'Why did he come here?' Dalton thought.

"Guards, ready..." They all pointed their guns at him. All the while, Chopper was making a mad dash for the castle.

"So that was all..." Hiriluk fell to his knees in relief, "Good. So none of them are sick? I was convinced... that this was a national crisis." Tears fell into the snow. "So it was just a trick."

"Humph!" Wapol scoffed. "If it really was a national crisis, I wouldn't want someone like you! Pay no attention. Execute him!"

"Don't bother," He held his hand out. "You guys can't kill me."

"Huh?"

"Hey..." He looked up at Wapol, feeling weaker and weaker, "When do you think a person dies? When a bullet from a pistol pierces his heart? No... when he's attacked by an incurable disease? No... when he eats a deadly, poisonous mushroom soup? No!" A determined Chopper walked up the ropeway, as Kureha stayed in the house. "A man dies when people forget him." Dalton felt choked up, as Hiriluk casually poured a concoction into a vial. "Even if I disappear, my dream will come true. The citizens' sickness of the heart will be cured as well. Why're you crying, Dalton-kun?"

"I wonder," He paid no mind to his tears streaming down his face, "If it's the same for a country."

Hiriluk smiled. "Yeah, if there's someone to pass it on to."

"Hey, hey, Dalton! What're you crying for?" Wapol demanded, but went unanswered.

"Soon, a monster will come here," He continued, "He's my son. Don't hurt him." He became quiet, as blood leaked from his mouth. 'Don't worry, Chopper. Your mushroom can't kill me.' "I had... such a good title!"

"Goodbye, quack," Kureha downed more sake in despair.

He confidently drank up the vial. "Thank you, Chopper! " Right after... he exploded! His hat flew down, and landed in front of Chopper on the snow. He stared at it in horror; he was too late. He couldn't save him.

As the shell-shocked Dalton and the guards looked on, Wapol laughed heartlessly. "He blew himself up! What an idiot!"

Hearing him, Chopper started seething with anger. He then grew into his large form, with a roar of fury, and trampled up to the castle.

"Ahh!"

"What's that?!"

"It's a monster!"

"Shoot him! Shoot him!"

"Ahhh!" He roared dangerously.

"Wait!" Dalton blocked his way without harming him, turning into his bull form, and pinned him to the ground. "Leave... leave here! When you can't even defeat me... you can't possibly defeat them!" Tears of regret continued falling. "For laughing at Hiriluk's death, I apologize!" Chopper eased up at that. "Without enough power, you'll just die in vain. Don't sacrifice yourselves any longer for this country. Please..."

"Huh?" Wapol watched, as Chopper walked down the ropeway. "You let him get away, Dalton."

"Shut up! You still don't get it? The only man who tried to save this sick country has just died. When everyone gave up and despaired, a kind doctor who tried to save this country died!"

"So what if someone like that dies?" Wapol dismissed heartlessly.

"I saw the path that this country should take. It should die out. As long as we stay here, it won't be rebuilt, because, even if medical care progresses, even if the research on medicine continues," Dalton glared in the king's direction, "There's no medicine that can cure fools!"

"I let you have your say," Wapol growled, "You made me really angry!"

"Please!" A sobbing Chopper begged outside of Kureha's house. "Please teach me to be a doctor!" He was waving Hiriluk's flag, with his top hat hung on a stick close by. "I'll become the all-purpose medicine! I'll become a doctor who can cure anything! I'll cure even a country! Because... because... there's no disease in this world that can't be cured!"

Kureha watched for several seconds, as he cried wordlessly. "Call me... Doctorine."

At the castle, Dalton was thrown in the dungeon. "I won't... die. I will carry on his will."

Venus blinked tears out of her eye. "That's so sad."

"So for the 6 years since then, Tony-kun has been studying under you," Nami almost whispered.

"Yeah. I taught him everything I know."

"Doctorine! Doctorine!"

"Ahh!" Luffy glared from a window up above. "That bastard!"

Wapol. "I've finally returned!"

"That annoying mouth!" Luffy raged.

"Now, we're restoring the Drum Kingdom!"

Chopper burst into the room, resembling a normal reindeer. "Doctorine! There's a problem! Wapol is back!"

Kureha smiled calmly. "Is that so."

(A/N: That concludes Chopper's backstory! But the arc's not over yet! You know the disclaimer.)