Chapter Twenty-Two (Part II)

[theremedy]

Past:

No Need to Say Goodbye

He is trying to perform surgery on the man named Sanji. The light overhead is a cruel eye, swinging back and forth as he digs around the open cavity, chasing down the bullet that makes a creepy melody as it dings against the ribs. That one of his hands is still a hoof doesn’t help.

“Sponge,” he says, and leans down, trying not to fall off his step stool so Lapu can dab the sweat from his forehead, her tiny nurse cap askew.

Across the way, Doctorine is working on Mr. Dalton, speaking to him in low tones as he lies strapped to a gurney, a rainbow of IVs pumping into his arm.

“Change” she says. “You’ll have to change or you’ll be in trouble.” But she seems concerned.

Chopper blinks and wonders why she’s saying this but Lapu informs him the snow is coming and the cave doesn’t have a door. More bullets are plinking on the man called Sanji’s ribs now; sounding like rain. Chopper grabs more tweezers, frantically trying to stop them before they can reach the spine.

“What about me? Hey!” The hunchback says, standing at the entrance to the cave in the shadowy snow that’s more like ash, holding the girl in his arms. “I need help. Don’t leave me. Don’t go away. Please.”

“J- Just a second!”Chopper tries to call to him but his voice is too small, just a whisper. So he decides to work faster only the man’s ribs are full of bullets now and they’re starting to rattle around as he breathes.

“I’ll take care of it,” Doctor Hiriluk says and Chopper finds himself sitting on the threadbare cot in one side of the cave. Curtains decorated with strings of beads and animal bones and feathers hang across the way but he can still see Doctor Hiriluk through the gaps. His friend is standing in the middle of the cave, blood pooling at his feet and dripping from the holes in his chest, trailing down his arms and from his mouth.

“I’m a doctor after all.”

But he is hurt! Chopper starts to tear up bandages from the bed sheets in increasing fury. He needs to stop the bleeding before all the blood is gone. The snow is falling thicker now. It smells like ash and ozone and burning things. Bullets whine in his ears and somewhere someone cries out. He struggles to get the bandages to Doctor Hiriluk, fighting against the deep snow, first on two legs, then on four.

“It’s okay,” Doctor Hiriluk says, reaching for him. Fading. Tears in his eyes. Warm on Chopper’s face. He can help this time! He really can!

”Live your life. We’ll meet again soon…” Doctor Hiriluk says even as he fades. Chopper shakes his head, eyes growing heavier and heavier with salt and tears. His heart feels like it will burst as he tries to make headway through the snow that’s rough like concrete now and just as thick. It’s hard but… But he can go on…!

He knows he can!

“Wake up!” Doctorine roars in his head.

Chopper wakes with a start and blinks the wet from his eyes, his heart thudding painfully against his ribs. He stares blindly upward until his eyes adjust to see the looming shapes of coats hanging above him. They smell like summer closet. Hidden and musty. A big furry meaty arm flomps over his middle, bringing with it the soft musky milky smell of a Lapin kit. He pets Lapu’s big arm comfortingly and stares at the thin needle of light that’s coming in through the crack of the closet door. He doesn’t know if it’s morning or afternoon or what.

It feels like they’d spent days hunched over the makeshift operating table in the apothecary room, first on Mr. Dalton who needed it the most and then the man called Sanji who had had a bullet worryingly close to his spine. Chopper had almost fallen asleep twice and chugged so much hot coffee he was sure he could feel his teeth still chattering from it.

Still after all that, or maybe because of it, he is still sleepy. He wants to turn into Lapu’s furry chest and doze in the warm security of the closet when he hears Doctorine’s voice, muffled by the door but needle thin and irritated.

“Well glad you’re awake finally.” There’s the slosh of liquor and then: “Better timing than when we were digging a bullet out of your thigh. Kek kek kek”

“You really are an evil witch to joke about things like that,” says a voice like rough gravel. It takes a second for Chopper to realize it’s Mr. Dalton. He pets Lapu reassuringly and pushes her arm out of the way receiving a sleepy ‘growf’ and peeks out of the closet, squinting in the morning sunlight. The door to Doctorine’s room is cracked open and though sleep still pulls him, he wonders if she needs any help.

Chopper carefully closes the closet door behind him and creeps across the open space but peers through the crack in the door rather than going inside just yet.

Mr. Dalton looks larger than life on Doctorine’s bed, even with his leg bandaged and his skin grey with exhaustion. Chopper has never seen him this bad before, but a doctor’s sense tells him he’ll be okay so long as he gets rest and fluids so his body recovers.

“A witch, am I?” Doctorine says. “Well I can’t argue with that. Especially since I’m feeling in the mood for a little ox-bone soup about now.” She sets the bottle on Mr. Dalton’s stomach with a thump, making him wheeze and Chopper wince a little in sympathy.

“What’s with you bringing those brats around here and disrupting our peace? Them and whoever it is that made sure you’re anemic right now. You never fail to bring troubles to our door.”

That’s true… Chopper picks at a bit of loose wood around the doorframe. He does always seem to bring trouble… Two years ago when they were still on the move, Mr. Dalton would go out to find zoans— kind of like Chopper!— nervous and edgy and wounded. It had been fine at first, but always they’d have to move again, because the ones who wanted whomever Mr. Dalton had freed would be right on their tail. Those had been scary times and the Lapin had been constantly on edge and Lapu’s mother had died from the stress of that and pregnancy but…

…but they had given those zoans a place to get help, if even for a little while. And as scared as he had been, Chopper always felt like he was doing something good. Something Doctor Hiriluk would be proud of.

“I won’t apologize,” Mr. Dalton says, gaze fixed on the bottle on his stomach. Even as he says it he looks like he kind of wants to. “They need your help. You’re the only one I know who can—”

“Save it,” Doctorine says, and then in a lower voice. “I don’t even know if I can help that girl. And even if I could, why should I? She won’t do us any favors.”

“I owe her favors,” Mr. Dalton says, meeting Doctorine’s eyes and seeming to get some color back in his cheeks from the effort of his will. “Her and the others that came with her.”

“Oh, yes, I’m sure you feel you do,” Doctorine says, lifting the bottle once more, then tilts her head back a little, the silver braid falling off her shoulder.

“If you’re awake enough to be eavesdropping, go check her fever,” Doctorine says with a sudden fierceness that makes Chopper jolt. “And tell that brat in the kitchen to lay the hell down.”

“O-okay!”Chopper says, scrambling to do as he’s told and as he goes he hears Doctorine murmur:

“How the hell do you expect me to protect that boy…”

Chopper’s ears burn and his face too. It isn’t like he doesn’t want to be protected. He would rather die than go back to a lab but… but he wishes he were strong enough not to need that kind of help! Especially since it meant that other people who were hurt or wounded or needed freedom didn’t get it.

He just has to try harder somehow, that’s all. Grow up faster so Doctorine and Mr. Dalton don’t have to worry about him all the time. He’ll just eat a lot of vitamins and exercise a lot and get really buff! That should help.

He clenches his fist in determination and strides toward his room where the girl is, only to slow and stop and press himself flat against the inside wall as he sees the hunchback awake. He is sitting with his back to the door, watching the girl on the bed.

His name is Luffy, Chopper remembers, and he is very strong. He hadn’t even been shot once! Just grazed a little here and there and cracked a rib. And even after that, he’d kept going out to bring all his friends in safe. Remembering that makes chills prickle up Chopper’s spine. That’s strength. To save everyone you want and still be alive afterwards.

But weirdly, even though he’s strong, he doesn’t look buff at all. And he doesn’t even look all that grown up! He looks like he could easily be on the set of a high school show.

Luffy shifts and Chopper startles, pressing himself even harder against the inside wall so he won’t attract attention. But Luffy stretches and then scratches the back of his head and after a moment, pokes her red cheek lightly.

“Oi, hang in there,” he says.

Oh, right, it’s doctor time. He has been sent on a mission to take care of her. Chopper clears his throat so he won’t startle Luffy and approaches the bed.

“I’m just going to take her temperature and stuff,” Chopper says, pulling the medkit from the top drawer of the nightstand where he’d stashed it last night. Or was it the night before?

“No problem!” Luffy says grinning and shifting to face him. “Hey, thanks for dragging me back. I kept falling asleep out there!”

“You were just asleep?!” Chopper says with a wave of shock. He had felt seriously unconscious!

“Yeah I couldn’t remember how to get back so I just took a nap.”

“Took a nap?!” Chopper can’t help but goggle at him. Out there in the forest with all those bad guys around? But then he remembers that duck Karoo saying that they took care of them all. Which is even more startling. How can a teenager and a duck take care of grown men with guns?

"How did you do it?" Chopper asks breathlessly.

"I did gorilla stuff..."

"Gorilla stuff...? Chopper asks, peering at him closely. What does that mean? He's pretty sure Luffy isn't a zoan. Or at least he doesn't smell like one, so that's a little strange. He's about to ask but the girl stirs on the bed, drawing his attention and he startles to see her eyes open, just the barest of slits, then wince as if the sunlight hurts them. She shifts to focus on him and a furrow forms between her brows as if she’s trying to make him out. He must look weird without his hat on.

“What’s the prognosis, doc?” she says in a voice that’s barely a whisper.

“I’m just the assistant,” Chopper murmurs. “And I don’t know what’s wrong … not yet. Um… Can you hold a thermometer?”

She nods, then closes her eyes and grits her teeth.

“Can’t move…”

“Mm…” Chopper says. That’s worrying. He makes a note of it on the little yellow pad and gets out a thermometer. “How do you feel.”

“Head hurts. Everything hurts. Cold.”

“Want more blankets?” Luffy asks. “Or maybe one of the furry guys can lay on you.”

“Furry guys?” Chopper echos, not understanding at all but picturing massive gangsters in striped fur coats. He shakes his head.

“It’s probably the fever making her feel that way.” He sanitizes the thermometer and then patiently puts it in her mouth. It seems she can hold it well enough so he notes the unusual colored spots on her skin which don't seem better but also don't seem worse.

“Can we give her meat or vegetables to make her better?”Luffy asks. He’s shifted to sit on the floor, resting his chin on the bed, watching the girl intently.

“It might help her recover strength but either way it’s going to take a while.”

The girl shakes her head from side to side, then her teeth clench and her fingers claw at the bedspread. What’s wrong with her? Was she hurting? Chopper keeps his expression calm. Whatever it is he can’t help her right now and he feels Luffy watching him as if judging for reaction. The thermometer beeps and Chopper checks the temperature. It’s high, but not enough to worry so long as it doesn’t get much higher.

“Have to move. ‘For it’s too late,” the girl says, though slurs so bad Chopper can hardly make it out. He nods, sweat sliding down his face.

“Mm. I’ll tell Doctorine. You rest now.”

She relaxes but only a little, her eyes falling closed again but her body remaining tense. Chopper finishes the last of his notes and notices her IV bag needs changing— except they’re down to one now. This isn’t going to go well if she’s in this state much longer.

“The old hag can help her right?” Luffy asks.

Chopper wants to say yes of course! He wants to say it will be alright. He wants to reach in his medkit and pull out his last precious bottle of sakura water that Doctor Hiriluk gave him and have her drink it and let her know it was all going to be okay.

But he doesn’t know if it’s going to be alright and Doctorine can’t help her and the water doesn’t work. He knows it doesn’t because they had to bury Doctor Hiriluk under his tree because there’s hope, Doctorine had said, and then there’s reality.

“She’ll do her best,” Chopper says, which is as much as he can say. Luffy puffs out a breath of air as if accepting this and turns to watch her again, fidgeting a little with his feet as if it’s hard to keep still. Chopper doesn’t want him to be too sad, though, so adds helpfully.

“Doctorine’s really good though. So her best is better than just about anyone.”

“Really?” Luffy says, lifting his head a little and at Chopper’s nod he grins. “Great! Maybe she can join my crew.”

Crew? What did he mean by that? Chopper knew that sailors were in crews and that there were rowing crews, but there wasn’t any water for miles and miles. What else could he mean? Chopper’s curiosity is burning, but then he hears a clatter in the kitchen and remembers his other task.

“I’ll be right back,” he says. “Don’t go anywhere! I’ve got a question.”

Chopper hurriedly packs the med kit away and rushes to the kitchen, the wonder buzzing around his brain. Crew. No one said anyone was crew. Friends maybe. Family maybe. But crew?

The smell hits him before he is halfway there, almost but not quite side-tracking him from his questions. It is a good smell. The kind of smell that, if this were a cartoon, would have a tendril of smoke with a beckoning finger. Chopper follows it as if floating and finds that there were pancakes in the kitchen! Actual pancakes!

And bacon sizzling deliciously and making his mouth water. Lapu is already there, happily gorging on a plate of bacon that has been set on the floor for her and the man named Sanji stands at the stove, flipping scrambled eggs in a skillet.

Ahh! It is so beautiful! His stomach grumbles and before he can think to hide, the man called Sanji half turns and offers him a wan smile.

“Morning,” he says. “Better dig in before the shitty meathead gets a sniff.”

“Dig in? Really?” Chopper says, his voice practically a squeak. “What can I have?” It all looks so good! He doesn’t know how to choose!

“Anything you want.”

“Wow! Thanks!” It’s suddenly the most amazing morning of his life. He grabs a plate from the cabinet using his stepstool and then gets some pancakes with whipped cream on top, with bacon and ham on the side. Even better Sanji gives him a small plate of scrambled eggs that steam lightly in the air.

Chopper sets his plates almost reverently on the table— but before he can eat he pours himself a glass of milk, does a little dance at the sight of freshly made coffee and goes to pour himself that too.

“Hold on half pint,” Sanji says, putting a hand on top of the coffee maker. “I made that for your mom.”

“Eh?” Oh, he must mean Doctorine. “She’s my teacher. And she doesn’t drink coffee. This is mine.”

“Yours?” Sanji’s eyes widen. “That shit can strip paint! I felt my shitty nosehairs wake up just opening the lid!”

“Yep!” Chopper says happily, finishing pouring and setting them both on the table beside the plate. First he takes a sip of milk to get all the morning gunk out of his mouth, and then slurps at the coffee, juddering as the lightning sensation bristles him all the way to his toes.

“Shitty black and everything,” Sanji mutters. “It’ll stunt your growth.”

“That’s a common misconception. There might be a slight limit on your ability to absorb calcium but your body adjusts to that really easily.” Which doesn’t mean it’s healthy either, but coffee is his home and he doesn’t care if he has one unhealthy thing.

“No shit,” Sanji says, seeming completely dumbfounded. Chopper nods and picks up a fork to cut through his pancakes. Sanji stops him with a raised finger and dribbles some syrup on it—which looks almost as good as coffee as it slides and goops over the pancakes' golden brown surface. The fork cuts the pancakes easily with a pleasant resistance and as he pops it in his mouth it’s like heaven has melted on his tongue.

“Ahh so delicious~!” he croons, holding his cheeks and swaying back and forth on his chair. He wants to keep this taste in his mouth forever.

“Good?” Sanji says sounding amused.

“It’s better than Waffle House!” And that took some doing! Wow!

“Thanks, I think. You might want to start on that shitty bacon though.”

The bacon isn't shitty at all. In fact it is just the right amount of crisp and crunch and flake on his tongue and now he knows why Lapu is licking the plate and making happy growly sounds.

“So your teacher, huh? What is she your governess or something? Like Mary Poppins or some shit?” Sanji says, setting the bowl of scrambled eggs on the table, before straightening, flinching and putting a cigarette between his lips. Chopper gives him a hard look as he goes to light it and he looks back, sighs, and drops his hand, finger rubbing against the match absently like he really wants to light it.

Well he shouldn’t! Smoking is worse than coffee!

Chopper shakes his head at the question, though. He only knows Mary Poppins is a kid’s movie and it’s something about London and an umbrella, but he’s sure Doctorine isn’t anything like that.

“She’s a doctor. She’s teaching me how to be one.” He takes a bite out of the eggs and decides they are almost as good as the bacon and chews them happily. “She’s really good!”

“That’s shitty good to hear.”

Chopper can’t help but stare at him, fascinated. He says shitty so much without being sarcastic or anything! Is it some kind of weird verbal tic? What if things really were shitty? Would he still say shitty then too? Wouldn’t that be confusing? Chopper wants to ask but as his cheeks are bulging with pancakes now it’s sort of hard.

“Going to medical school one day then?” Sanji asks with a grin. Chopper looks down at his plate, some of his good feelings ebbing away. He doesn’t know if he can go to medical school. He can’t even go to regular school and don’t you have to start somewhere? Don’t you have to get grades and SATs? He swallows his pancakes, washing them down with milk so he won’t choke and asks:

“Do doctors have to go to medical school?”

“Pretty damn sure,” Sanji says turning back to the stove to put more bacon in a pan. Well damn sure didn’t mean he knew right? Doctorine hadn’t said anything about that and she’d been a nurse in the first war and a doctor in some of the second. She would have told him if he couldn’t be one, right?

Suddenly Sanji curses softly and hunches, gripping his side and with a start, Chopper remembers what he came in here for. In an almost panic he scrambles out of his chair, waving his hands.

“Hey! You’re still injured! You have to sit down!”

“I’m fine,” Sanji says, strained. “Just a shitty stitch in my side.”

“Yeah but you could rupture a suture if you’re not careful! Or do lasting damage!”

“You’re such a shitty good doctor that I’m not even worried,” Sanji says with a grin and Chopper gets warm all over. Ahh really? Sanji thought he was a good doctor?! He giggles and rubs the back of his head, kicking at the floor.

“I just did the suturing. Doctorine did the work. But even hearing that doesn’t make me happy, bastard, so shut up!” But don’t shut up! Say the word doctor again! Ahh it was so nice to hear he did well.

“Better drink your coffee before it gets cold, Doctor.”

He said it again! Ah!

“Yes, yes,” Chopper says happily, wiggling back to his seat. He’s only just perched in his chair when he realizes Sanji’s still standing.

“Oi!” Chopper bolts out of his chair and hurries over to him. “If you don’t sit down I’m gonna… I’m gonna…” What was he gonna do? He glances at Lapu who is watching the bacon making with interest, then gets an idea. “I’m gonna get Fufu to sit on you!”

“Fufu?” Sanji says with a raised eyebrow.

“Lapu’s father,” Chopper says with a gesture and Lapu grins with sharp teeth and makes a threatening baby rawr with her claws outstretched.

“What that big furry bastard?” Sanji asks and Chopper nods, folding his arms and mentally asking Sanji how he likes those pears. Sanji pales and looks at the bacon, fingers gripping at his side once more before he sighs.

“Fine. I’ll take a break. Just… let me shitty finish this alright?”

Chopper frowns. He supposes that’s alright. Especially if it means more bacon. But he gives Sanji the most fierce look he can.

“Fine but I’m watching you.” Sanji could really hurt himself if he didn’t take it easy. Chopper turns to find Luffy sitting at his seat. The sight makes him jump a mile. When did he get here?!

“Yo!” says Luffy, raising a hand. “You got a question?”

A question? Chopper’s blindsided for a moment before he remembers. He wants to ask him about crew!

“Um… why do you— HEY!” he blurts as Luffy picks up Chopper’s plate, wondiferous bacon and all, and slides all the food right into his mouth. “That’s mine!”

“Told you,” Sanji mutters.

“That’s not fair.”

“Shishishi Gotta be quicker!” Luffy says, grinning. Chopper glowers. He’s not really that hungry anymore but he’d been looking forward to it! In fact most of the food on the table seems to be gone already! How did he do that so quick?! There is something left, though. The bowl of beautiful light and fluffy scrambled eggs. Luffy reaches for it. Chopper pounces, sliding across the table and getting a facefull of scrambled eggs in the process.

Luffy laughs until Chopper sits cross-legged on the table, bowl in his lap and starts shoving eggs in his mouth by the handful. He’s going to eat every one of these delicious eggs!

“Hey!” Luffy says, grabbing handfuls himself and shoving them in his mouth and soon it’s a pitched battle.

“What are you, shitty five-year-olds?” Sanji snaps. “Eat right.”

“No way! Bastard!” Luffy says.

“Yeah! No way! Bastard!” Chopper echoes.

“Chicken butt!” Luffy says.

“Chicken butt!” Chopper says, liking the way that sounds.

“Uh…”

Oh… Luffy doesn’t know? Can Chopper think one up this time?

“Swirly goat!”

“Goat?” Luffy asks. Chopper nods.

“Yeah! Cuz goats bleat like m-e-e-e-h.”

“Oh yeah!” Luffy says with a laugh. “That’s good! Swirly goat!”

“Swirly goat!”

“Me-e-”

Chopper’s never been heel-dropped in the head before and he’s not sure if he likes the sensation. It doesn’t hurt too much but it leaves his ears ringing.

“You done?” Sanji asks coldly.

“Sorry,” Luffy says, clutching his head. Chopper can only burble a little. It hurt but… but that was… fun!

“What noisy idiots,” Doctorine says and Chopper turns to see her standing in the doorway, she’s grinning but her arms are also folded and she’s tapping the plum wine bottle against her hip. Not a good sign. She glances at Chopper.

“I see he’s still standing.”

“Sorry, Doctorine,” Chopper says, wiping the eggs from his mouth with the back of his hand. “I was just letting him finish his bacon.”

“My bacon,” Doctorine says, striding over and getting a chair. “In my house using my medical supplies and corrupting my student.”

“My apologies, Madam,” Sanji says, flinching only a little as she drags the chair nearer to him, the feet screeching across the linoleum. “But I’ve saved the best plate for you.”

And he opens the oven and pulls out a plate with food that even looks more delicious than what Chopper just ate! There’s even the green stuff on it to make it look fancy!

“Firstly, enough with the Madam crap. I’m only in my youthful 110s. Secondly, how can I trust that’s not poisoned?”

Chopper froze! Ah, he hadn’t thought of that! He checks himself. Is he feeling sleepy? Drowsy? Nauseous? His head is ringing… Oh but that’s from the kick so that should be alright.

“Aside from the fact that my beloved Nami-swan is in your care, I wouldn’t poison that shitty idiot,” Sanji says, jerking his thumb at Luffy who is sucking down Chopper’s milk and flashing the peace sign. Chopper scowls and grabs his coffee before that disappears too.

“Also, your shitty monster rabbit is okay, isn’t she?”

That’s true! Lapu is doing okay and standing to peer at the bacon, reaching for a sizzling strip. Sanji nudges her hand away with his shin and pulls the strip out with a pair of tongs, blowing on it a minute to let it cool before handing it down to her. She growufs happily and rolls onto her back.

“True enough,” Doctorine says, her smile seeming a little easier now. “But for all that you have done, including disrupting our peace and assaulting Chopper which is something only I get to do… the least you could do is sit.”

At those words her fingers mov lightning fast and elegant at the pressure points on his spine. Sanji yelps and sits hard, though Doctorine has tilted the chair up to take some momentum off the fall.

“What the shit did you do?!” Sanji says as Luffy half stands.

“It’ll wear off in about ten minutes. Trust me I don’t want you hanging around.”

Sanji doesn’t seem happy about it and shifts and it almost seems he’s going to move his legs! But then he settles back down with a huff, a fine sweat glistening over his forehead.

“At least don’t let the shitty bacon burn,” he grumbles and Luffy settles back into the chair. Chopper sips the last of his coffee, glad no one got really mad.

“I suppose I could do that much,” Doctorine says, setting the plate Sanji had given her on the counter before going to attend the bacon herself.

“Hey, old hag,” Luffy says, licking the grease from his fingers. “Can you help Nami?”

Doctorine snorts, sliding the bacon onto a plate before turning off the stove. “Didn’t I tell you to quit with that old stuff? And if I can remains to be seen, but I haven’t found a good reason why I should.”

“Because we’re doctors!” Chopper says, shocked that she even said something like that. “And doctors help everyone even if they don’t know how or if they shouldn’t!” He hesitates. "Right?"

“So an old fool said long ago,” Doctorine says and Chopper frowns. She’s always called Doctor Hiriluk an old fool and he feels she doesn’t mean it badly but he’s not sure what she’s doing.

“But consider this.” She swings the tongs to point at Sanji. “We did how much work patching him up? And yet once they’re better, they’ll go right back to the life they left that had them being chased by those thugs.” She grins again, hard and white. “Am I right?”

“Right,” Luffy says with a nod.

“And just what do you think you’re going to get out of it?” Doctorine asks, pinning Luffy with a gaze that is scalpel sharp. Chopper has seen people wilt under that expression or stammer. Luffy just gets up and crosses toward her.

“I’m going to find the truth of the world and be the next Pirate King.”

Truth of the world? Pirate King? What does that mean? Chopper can’t even begin to guess but it sounds exciting and makes him bristle. Does it have something to do with crew too? He wants to know! More than anything! But now is not the right time to ask.

Doctorine laughs, and just under that, Chopper hears the soft thump bump of someone coming down the hall in crutches. He slides off the table to go and see if Mr. Dalton needs help with anything.

“I’ve never heard of a first Pirate King. As for the truth of the world." She cackles. "You’re an ambitious brat but you’ll be dead before you even get that far.”

“No way! More bacon!” Luffy says thrusting out a hand. Chopper hurries to the doorway and peers around the corner quickly, hoping that Mr. Dalton won’t need anything so he won’t miss anything interesting Luffy decides to do or say next.

Mr. Dalton seems okay, but barely, pale and sweating slightly with a file folder tucked under his arm that’s threatening to come loose.

“I’ll help,” Chopper says.

“Ah,” says Mr. Dalton and seems to want to say more but already Chopper has taken the file folder from him— and freezes as he sees Doctor Hiriluk’s handwriting scrawled across the front. File H.1 -HC.30. Room 12. Chopper wonders if he could still smell the sakura incense if he opens and shuts the file folder really quickly, but then decides he doesn’t want to know.

“Kureha…asked me to get it,” Mr. Dalton says awkwardly and somehow Chopper remembers to nod.

“It’s okay,” he murmurs, clutching the folder to his chest. Doctor Hiriluk used to risk his life going into the secret rooms of the lab to copy down these notes, at least so he told Chopper… but he must have been really good at it because even Doctorine is impressed.

‘All good doctors steal if they have to, to learn how it’s done,’ Doctor Hiriluk had told him once. ‘But I’m stealing it to learn how to stop them.’

Chopper wishes he could have helped a little more. He wishes he hadn’t been so dumb and known to run away and not trusted Mr. Dalton then. But that’s all in the past now so Chopper tries hard to remember it is.

“If you know that much you should go back to school,” Doctorine is saying to Luffy who is crunching on the bacon she made. Lapu stands just under him, her mouth wide and waiting for scraps.

“Don’t wanna. School’s boring.”

“School won’t get you killed,” Doctorine says, then after a pause adds: “Usually.”

“I found what you were looking for, Kureha,” Mr. Dalton says as Luffy finishes the plate of bacon and wipes his mouth with his hand. “You were right.”

“Damn. I hate it when I’m right. Happens too often for my peace of mind. Chopper?” and she holds out her hand for the folder. He hands it to her, fingers lingering for a bit before it’s taken from him. It makes him proud that she’s reading it even if it makes him sad to look at it.

“HB-278A1 is it?” Doctorine murmurs.

“Seems like it,” Mr. Dalton says, looking graver than Chopper’s ever seen him.

“What is it?” Sanji says, struggling to his feet even if it hasn’t been close to ten minutes and taking the plate from Luffy’s hands. “A cure?”

“More like a cause.” Doctorine snaps the file shut. “But I won’t be satisfied until I double check. Let’s hope I was mistaken.”

—

But she isn’t mistaken. Chopper doesn’t know what’s going on but as they all gather in the girl’s room, he can tell that something’s wrong as Doctorine frowns at the notes that Chopper made, and then at the girl on the bed, peering at her with her glasses on, then more closely without. The girls’ breathing has become erratic, spots of red flame on her cheeks and periodically her body tenses as if fighting off some great pain.

“Well that’s that,” Doctorine says, straightening. “She’s been hit with it all right. Lucky she wasn’t hit in an artery or it’d be all over. Or maybe she’s just that unlucky. Kek kek kek.” This time her laugh doesn’t seem happy at all and Chopper frowns. He doesn’t like where this is going.

“Care to shitty explain?” Sanji says, sitting on the edge of her bed and looking between the two of them. Doctorine gives Mr. Dalton a look with raised eyebrows and he sighs.

“I can’t tell you much about it, but, it was originally developed to help bring down zoans and other such creatures... anesthetize them I mean... but then someone tried to turn it into a torture drug. Designed to keep the victim lucid but in pain until the information could be extracted.” He swallows and closes his fingers around the grips of his clutch. “They never could figure out how to keep the victims alive as long as they wanted.”

Sanji pales at this too and Luffy just sits where he is on the other side of the bed, staring at the straw hat resting on his knees.

“Basically her body is warring with itself,” Doctorine says. “I’m guessing something like curare to paralyze her while the Devil’s Seed extract is trying to send her body into overdrive. If left untreated the stress alone will kill her.”

“Devil’s Seed?” Luffy says. “Is she going to turn into an animal?”

Chopper jolts, shocked. He knows about that? Chopper didn’t think anyone did except the people after them. But then he knows Mr. Dalton too, so maybe it’s not much of a surprise.

“She’ll need a lot more of the seed for that to ever happen,” Doctorine says, sounding amused.

“Aside from that,” Sanji says. “Is there anything you can do for her?”

“I can prolong it for a little while. Keep her together. But the only thing that’s going to make her better is the antidote,” Doctorine says. “Fortunately for you, unless they’re bigger idiots than they’ve let on, whoever shot her should have some on them.”

“So in other words we have to chase those bastards down,” Sanji says, chewing on the end of his cigarette as his fingers tap against his leg. It’s a definite sign of withdrawal and Chopper can’t help but be sympathetic. He can remember what it feels like. “Unless they’ve left.” Another look at Mr. Dalton who shakes his head.

“Not likely. If they’ve chased us this far, they’re not going to stop until one of us is dead.”

“If that’s true I’d like to know why they haven’t shitty attacked yet,” Sanji says, looking up at the ceiling.

“They probably haven’t found the house yet,” Mr. Dalton says.

“Yet.” Doctorine says pleasantly. “It’s nice to be caught in the cross-fire once again.” The bottle of wine is swinging again between her fingers. “Nostalgic even.”

“I never intended this,” Mr. Dalton says.

“Bullshit,” Doctorine fires back. Mr. Dalton closes his eyes as if in some great pain.

“Don’t worry, Ms,” Sanji says, giving her an intense look. “I’ll defend this house with my life.”

“That’ll be about ten seconds,” Doctorine says with a cackle. “You could barely defend milk from a cat in the state you are in right now. And even if you weren’t, who did I spend two hours digging bullets out of?” She shakes her head. “I’ll put my faith in my shotgun, I think.”

“In any case,” Mr. Dalton says. “This can be done, but it will take some strategy…between the three of us we can work something out.”

“The only planning you should be doing, Dalton, is figuring out how to get Chopper away from here,” Doctorine says, smiling but jabbing a long finger in his direction. He looks up at her annoyed and Chopper is startled a little to hear his name.

“It’s okay,” Chopper says. “I can stay and help.”

“It’s not up for discussion,” Doctorine says and Chopper is surprised again. She’s never been so stern with him before. Still, this is something he can do! And maybe they won’t attack the house at all. And if they do, he can hide in the storm cellar with the girl and take care of her there.

“But, I can…” he starts, ready to make his argument, but Mr. Dalton places a hand on his hat and Chopper can feel the weight of it and knows Mr. Dalton would be ruffling his hair if he wasn’t wearing it.

“She’s right. You shouldn’t be in danger. We don’t know if they’re going to move or how many of them there will be…” He had a kind of hollow look to his face that Chopper had seen before…

That night when Mr. Dalton had taken him back to the lab and all Chopper could do was watch his face through the narrow bars of the truck. He hadn't wanted to see the cave go away and Doctor Hiriluk lying inside it, unconscious. Chopper swallows hard at the memory and grips Mr. Dalton’s pant leg since it’s the closest part he can reach. Whatever’s going to happen, Mr. Dalton doesn’t like it at all.

“I’m not afraid,” Chopper says, though he is a little.

“Well you should be,” Doctorine says.

“Don’t worry,” Mr. Dalton says, with a smile Chopper can’t believe. “It’ll be fine. I’ll find a place for you to hide and then—”

“No, I said take him away,” Doctorine says, stabbing his shoulder with her finger and making Mr. Dalton flinch. “As in, as far as you can. As in, don’t come back.”

Wait… Don’t come back? What does she mean ‘don’t come back’? Does she mean go on without her? Chopper doesn’t want to go on without her!

“I’ll take him far enough,” Mr. Dalton grumbles, pushing her finger aside.

“Will you? What happens when we all die. Where does that leave him?”

Die? Chopper feels his hair bristle even more. They can’t die! It’s not that dangerous, is it? It can’t be! But it is. He knows it is. He remembers the bullets and the men that were behind them. Chopper grips Mr. Dalton’s pants leg tigher and tries to think of something to say. Anything to stop this!

“M- maybe we can find a new antidote!” Chopper says, trying to sound brave but his voice is too high. “Or maybe we can take her to the hospital.”

“I don’t think Nami-swan has that kind of time,” Sanji says giving him a sad Mr. Dalton kind of smile. Like he doesn’t like what’s going to happen either but he’s going to do it. Chopper blinks back the wet in his eyes, feeling small and helpless. There has to be something he can do. He knows there has to be something! There was always a way out of everything if you looked! That’s what Doctor Hiriluk said!

“B-but—!”

“We won’t die,” Luffy says in the same quiet rough voice. Chopper finds himself looking at him, the back of his red shirt anyway, a small seedling of hope in his gut. He sounds so confident. He sounds so cool!

“Says you,” Doctorine says with a cackle, draining the rest of her wine.

Chopper waits for Luffy to say something back, but he just leans over Nami, hat cupped in the palm of his hand and holding it a bit over her face like he’s shading her with it. He leans down close.

“Just hold on a little longer, okay?” he says to her. A faint smile lifts the corner of her mouth and she nods before her closed eyes squinch tighter and a faint tremor flickers through her body. Luffy puts the hat on her stomach then and heads toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Sanji asks.

“Out,” Luffy says, and passes by Chopper smelling of bacon and sweat and bandages and blood. Chopper watches him go out and listens to his sandaled feet on the hall floor. He wants to follow him but he’s not sure why.

“Shouldn’t he stay and hear the plan?” Mr. Dalton says. Sanji straightens and waves a hand.

“Nah, he wouldn’t listen to a shitty word of it anyway.”

“Well I have medication to make,” Doctorine says, pushing away from the doorframe. “The quicker you plan the sooner you can leave.” This to Mr. Dalton who seems to slump even more.

“Can’t we just—?” he starts.

“No we can’t just,” Doctorine says. “Either you go or I do. Chopper?” And with that she leaves the room, clearly expecting him to follow. Chopper hesitates, torn between apologizing and asking Mr. Dalton if there’s anything he can do to change her mind. But Chopper knows there isn’t. It’s got to be up to him. He hurries down the hall after her, knowing better than to talk until they are in the Apothecary room. He watches proudly as she ties her hair back and runs her narrow fingers along the spines of books and journals she kept on the shelves. She’s so cool. He wants to be like her too.

So he has to be brave like her.

“Doctorine?” he says. “I really can help. I’m not afraid… not much. And I don’t want to run away.” And he doesn’t want to leave her behind. And he doesn’t want any of them to die.

“What makes you so determined to help?” she says, giving him a tight smile that’s not really a smile at all. “You don’t even know what kind of war they’re fighting.”

“No… But that’s okay. You’re helping.” So it couldn’t be all bad. And doctors didn’t discriminate! That’s what Doctor Hiriluk said too.

“I am…” Doctorine says, putting two large binders on the table. “And I wouldn’t mind having someone who knows what they’re doing at my side.” She folds her arms and looks down at him, hip cocked to one side, smiling, but then she always is.

“But I promised that old fool that I’d keep you alive and that’s just what I intend to do.”

Chopper fidgets. It’s an important promise. He knows it is. It makes him feel warm inside that they care about him so much…

“But…”

“It’s not your war,” she says, flicking him on the nose and almost making him sneeze. “When you’ve grown up to be a doctor in your own right, then you can pick and choose which battles you want to fight. Until then you have to do what you must.”

That’s not what he was going to say at all. He wants to help but… but he wants something else more. Or rather it’s something he doesn’t want to happen. If he goes with Mr. Dalton… he’ll be leaving Doctorine behind. He can see her now, watching from the door as they drive away, getting smaller and smaller until the trees swallow her up.

And maybe the trees would be on fire again. And maybe there would be bullets again. And maybe if he stayed, Doctorine would give him that smile, that was so wide and so sad and say: Go with Dalton. Live your life. We'll meet again soon.

But she wouldn’t because she would be dead and there would be no one to bury her under the sakura tree, because there weren’t any around here.

“Let me stay,” he says, softly. Maybe there will be all that stuff. Maybe it’ll be dangerous. Maybe he’ll die. But… He stares at her long bony legs as she takes a deep breath, something catching in the back of her throat. He wants to hold onto her leg and for her to pat him on the head. Even just that… But all she says is:

“Go and tend the Lapin.”

It feels like a door is shut somehow. He feels closed in all around. But he can’t figure out how to open the door again. He can’t work the knob. He can’t pick the lock. All he can do is stare at it and hope it will open, but knows that it won’t.

So instead he nods and gathers his supplies, tucking them into his med bag around the precious sakura water case. At least the Lapin will be there. They are his friends and they’ve been with him ever since that place. It won't be the same but... it'll be something.

---

The lapin are restless. As Chopper tends Fufu’s arm he can see them bounding around the clearing and even hear them further back in the woods, nervously checking their territory. Even though Fufu sits still for Chopper checking and re-bandaging his wound, his ears are in continual motion, swerving to catch the slightest sound, his nose working as he scents the wind. It’s strange for him to be so active in the day, Chopper realizes dimly. Lapin aren’t really nocturnal but moving at night is best on the run.

There is a muffled thumping in the distance and Fufu straightens and would have jerked the bandage from Chopper’s grip had he not let go. For a moment his body is rigid, then he thumps back a reply with his own giant foot. Chopper can feel the vibrations even through his sneakers and the wind from the passing stirs cool air over the hair on Chopper’s legs.

‘Is it done?’ Fufu asks in his own Lapin way.

“Almost,” Chopper says, trying his best to keep his good doctor voice on, to not think of everything that is going to happen very soon. “You’re healing up well and it doesn’t look like it’ll get infected. But I’ll check it again tomorrow.”

‘No checks.’

“I should at least look at it,” Chopper says, finishing the bandaging with a tug. “Even just to take this off…”

‘I will bite it off’

“But, why?” Chopper says. He doesn’t understand. Fufu is usually good about getting cared for. Why is he being so against it now?

Fufu shifts, settling down on his haunches so they are almost at eye level and turns his head, watching Chopper out of the corner of his eye. His ears, once active, are all the way back. It means he’s sad. Chopper swallows hard.

‘It is too dangerous to travel with you any longer,’ Fufu says. ‘And we have not forgiven the bull man’

Fufu’s large forepaw twitches and he raises it in the most unLapinlike gesture Chopper has ever seen, to rest it heavily on Chopper’s shoulder. He can feel the soft fur against his face and the heat from the pads on the bottom of Fufu’s paw leaking through his shirt. Chopper stares at it

‘But you are our friend. Even here. Even there.’ He cuffs Chopper lightly on the head. It is a warm bump, meant for kits— and Chopper stumbles only a little. ‘We will stay until you go’

“Okay. Thanks,” he hears himself say in a normal voice, as if nothing has changed at all. Fufu leans forward, pressing a soft nose kiss to his forehead, then pulls back, ears flicking up as another thump comes from further away.

‘Investigating. Watch kit.’

He nods, saying he will. Fufu bounds off, mind turned elsewhere— Chopper watches him go, a large marshmallow shape fading into the dappled shade of the forest. And he is alone save for Lapu chasing a butterfly a few yards away.

Chopper sits on the grass, pulling his knees up to his chest and flexing his fingers against his ankles, before absently stroking the pelt on his legs, and his arms too. It’s not even really human hair. It’s like fur almost. Doctorine says so. It is oily a little and soft underneath so that his arms and legs keep warm and smells musky on his fingertips and more if he doesn’t brush it out well. It’s not a human smell. It’s not an animal smell either.

He wonders what it would be like to be one or the other. He rests his chin on his knees and stares at the grass, watching it stir in the faint breeze. It’s not as if it would make a difference, he supposes. If he were human all the way he couldn’t stay with Doctorine. If he were animal he couldn’t stay with the Lapin. And even if reindeer had their own herds, he wouldn’t be welcome in one of them.

Chopper reaches up and traces his finger along the felt of the hat that Doctor Hiriluk had given him. They’d been talking about mothers and fathers and families and tribes and Chopper had been sad that he couldn’t remember any of his family — no matter how hard he thought about them. All it had ever been was people in white lab coats and masks on their faces. Sometimes dark goggles too, so he couldn’t see their eyes. Sometimes they patted him on the head or gave him treats when he’d been good, but they’d always left again. So Doctor Hiriluk had given him this hat, putting it on his head, and said they were family and tribe and if anyone had anything to say about it they could say it to him.

Chopper smiles a little, trying to remember everything about him— or at least the important things— like the second time he ever saw him, standing in the doorway of Chopper’s suddenly open cell, brandishing a mop, and Chopper had been afraid until he saw that the smile that had lit the doctor’s face.

‘Let’s go on an adventure,’ he’d said in a hushed voice. ‘Just you and me.’

He remembered being excited and afraid as they’d snuck down the darkened hallways, lit only by emergency lights. He’d almost turned back once or twice but Doctor Hiriluk had encouraged him with ‘just a little further’ or ‘it’s going to be amazing, just you wait.’ And for the most part it was terrifying but then—

He’d stepped outside the barbed wire fence of the lab for the first time he could even remember. In his animal form because he’d felt safer then. But there was snow on the ground, white and glittering from the moonlight. And the stars. So many of them blanketing the sky he could barely comprehend. More than in any picture book he’d ever seen. And real clouds too. Dark on the bottoms but laced white by the moon. Trees tall and dark. The mountains capped with white.

And the smells. So many of them he almost wanted to stop smelling. And the sounds! The creak of branches in the frosty breeze. The churning of a river nearby. The gentle hoot of an owl calling to its mate across the expanse of forest. Doctor Hiriluk’s breathing and his own too. The hammering of his own heart in his chest.

And then Doctor Hiriluk had thrown a snowball at him and few dozen more and Chopper had side checked him into a snow bank piled under a tree, sending the owl hooting angrily away and they’d laughed and played in the snow all the way back the cave that Doctor Hiriluk lived in on the side of Sakura Mountain. Or so he’d called it. And there Chopper had stayed for what seemed like days or months. Doing whatever he wanted. Waking up whenever he wanted. Eating or drinking whenever he wanted. Being a human or a reindeer or half and half and learning how to make all sorts of medicines including the special sakura water.

Chopper takes off his medical bag and roots in it until he finds the case. It’s made of cherry wood with a little bronze clasp and inside, nestled in cotton, is the only vial he has of the stuff Doctor Hiriluk said was sacred and could change the world, lighting up people’s hearts.

Chopper carefully takes the little cork on a chain off the vial and, with a steady hand, lets a single drop fall on the dirt. Then he watches a few of the blades of grass around it start to turn pink from the bottom up. It does lighten his heart a little. But it’s only a little matchstick worth as he remembers that he probably won’t be able to see it ever again. Or the Lapin. Or Doctorine. And one little drop of precious water to turn something pink isn’t going to make Mr. Dalton any less frustrated to be stuck with him.

Chopper imagines it’s going to be like two years ago… Only rather than hiding in a hotel room or abandoned house or woodshed or campsite with a crabby Doctorine, he’d be all by himself as Mr. Dalton tries to save every zoan he meets. That’s not a bad thing, Chopper tells himself, absently petting the grass blade with a finger. Maybe he’s not as good a doctor as Doctorine but he can stay and help—! Only… he kind of wonders if Mr. Dalton will forget him one day, or escape with a frightened zoan and leave him behind.

He sighs, slumping even further, and almost wants to flop on the ground entirely when a strangled ‘kweh’ gets his attention. Chopper looks up to see their duck friend, Karoo, flapping down to meet him.

‘Water,’ Karoo gasps, his eyes bright. Chopper nods.

“This way!” He leads the duck to a pump attached to a shallow stone trough. In the old days it might have been used for a horse or for the house that had once stood here but burned up a long time ago. Doctorine had had it fixed and cleaned of rust though so that the Lapin could use it when they didn’t want to come all the way back to the house.

He pumps some water for Karoo, watching fascinated as the duck clacks some water up with his bill, then takes off its cap and barrel and hops into the trough itself, letting the water flow over his head and through his wings. He’s a smart duck and a weird duck, but in the end he’s still a duck. Chopper can’t help but smile a little.

‘Thank you,’ Karoo says after he’s finished his bath and put his stuff back on with surprisingly flexible wings. He couples that with a little bow and then looks up at Chopper seriously.

‘In any case could you let me back into the house?’ he gestures with a wing to where he can just see the back of the house through a gap in the trees. ‘I have news for the Strawhat.’

“Strawhat?” Chopper echoes, then realizes who he must mean. “He’s not in the house, he went out to take a walk or something.”

“Kweh?!” ‘Now of all times!’ Karoo says, feathers fluffing. ‘I’ll go look for him.’ He shifts like he’s ready to take off, then cants his head at Chopper.

‘If you see him, could you tell him there is something dangerous about a mile north?’

“Dangerous?!” Chopper shoots a glance to where Lapu is rolling on the grass, limbs flopping. “What kind of dangerous? Is it those guys that were chasing you?”

‘No. Yes.’ Karoo taps his beak with a feather, then sweeps it out. ‘They’re of the same flock. In this case they are Officer Agents which makes the Billions and Millions look like fledglings. I don’t think they know we’re here but we should move out before they find out.’

“But if you move the girl she’ll probably die!”

Karoo flinches a little at this, looking sad for a moment and then prepares himself to launch again.

‘Strawhat will decide.’

Chopper can only nod to that and watches Karoo take off, wings beating steadily to get lift. He watches him go and then shudders a little at the thought of those guys being even more dangerous. Why did everything get so scary all of a sudden? Just a few days ago it was boring!

But it is sad too. Chopper watches Lapu, absently rubbing his arm. The girl will probably die if they move her. Her body is under so much stress as it is. But she’ll definitely die if they don’t get the antidote on time.

Except…if those guys— those… officer agents? Were really of the same flock, then they’d have an antidote too, right?

But they are super dangerous and Luffy probably wants to stay away from them. They will probably try to shoot Luffy on sight or something. He sighs and nudges the toe of his shoe against the dirt. If only there was someone who could sneak in that they wouldn’t recognize and then maybe…

The idea hits Chopper, inspiring and terrifying all at once. They… they probably don’t know about him do they? There are people looking for him, he knows, but not everyone.

Why can’t he sneak in and steal the antidote?

“Because they’ll skin you alive,” Chopper mutters to himself, pulling the brim of the hat down around his ears.

It is so risky. And even if he can fight a little, he can’t fight adults with guns! And Doctorine will be very mad at him. This is not his battle…

But he wants to do it anyway. He wants to make it his battle… Like Doctor Hiriluk would do. Had done. Even if he’d paid for it in the end.

A shudder of nerves rushes from the crown of his head to his toes but he tries to shake them off. How is he going to do this? He debates taking off his clothes and going as a reindeer... but it'll be embarrassing if he has to shift back to human for whatever reason. Still, it'll be faster covering the distance in his animal form so he should take off his shoes at least.

He does so, hiding them under a bush, and notices Lapu watching him curiously from the distance. Chopper averts his gaze, trying to pretend there’s nothing wrong, and ducks behind the relative privacy of a nearby oak tree. He takes a deep breath, filling his lungs with muzzy August air and changes. Almost immediately the mild summer heat turns almost agonizing with the thick insulated fur. This is why it’s better at night. But it’s not so bad he can’t bear it.

Lapu is hopping closer, curiosity in her perked ears and twitching nose.

“I’m going to check on something,” he tells her in his most commanding voice. “Stay here.”

And then he starts off, first at a clipped walk, then a trot, then a gallop, trying to outrace the nerves. He can’t help but imagine a million situations where he gets beat up or shot, or worse, captured and taken back to the square white room with no windows and the strong bleach smell that lingered everywhere, killing all other smells so that the people that came into observe barely even felt like people but ghosts. Doctor Hiriluk had smelled like a ghost too, but then a little later he’d smelled of mud and then soap and singed experiments and the strange potions he made as he tried his best.

Chopper tries to keep that image in mind as he settles back to a trot. Those memories in mind. All the tiny good ones. He remembers his first taste of cotton candy that Doctor Hiriluk brought him with real money from the convenience store. How sweet it had tasted like clouds made of sugar! Doctor Hiriluk had enjoyed it too and they’d gone back and spent the rest of the money to get all of it, and ate so much they were sick for a day.

Comments

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

The memory makes him sad more than happy somehow, so he lowers his head and pushes on, looking at nothing but the forest, not even hearing birdsong. He focuses instead on the ground under his hooves and the unerring sense that tells him what North is, rather than East or West or South. For a little while he feels almost strong. As if this is where he belongs.

A branch snaps off a tree somewhere nearby and Chopper shies instinctively, bolting in the opposite direction before he can put on the brakes, hooves digging into the soft soil. He stamps in place a bit, shaking off the willies, sides heaving. It feels like he ran a long way already.

But there are voices nearby. Very faint even if he pricks his ears toward them. Are those the guys he’s looking for? Chopper breathes, listening to the quiet of the woods, then sets his jaw and trots toward the sound of the voices. Then gets the shivers and trots away again, digging at the dirt with his hoof. What if they are the super bad guys? Even if they don’t know Chopper, they’re going to want to catch him if he overhears something he shouldn’t! That happens in all the movies.

Still, he can't run away now even though he really really wants to. Chopper takes a few deep breaths and then shifts human so he’ll feel a little bit calmer, the instincts of a prey animal fading into the background a little— but it’s still there, making his stomach wriggle. He tugs at his hat, remembering to be brave, and creeps closer, staying between the striped shadows of the trees.

Just ahead is a clearing, belonging to some old abandoned campground that teenagers like to park in sometimes— or so Fufu had said. The Lapin didn’t really like to go in there because of that. But there are people there now. A dark haired man with a weird stick out ponytail that looked kind of like a w, and a girl with red cheeks are sitting at a round iron latticework table with a striped umbrella sticking out of it. Just behind them is a bright yellow and white van with lace curtains in the back and an elegant three painted on the side.

They…they don't look dangerous…

Chopper slips to cling to the side of the tree, digging his fingers into the bark. Maybe they aren't Officer Agents or billions or whoever. Maybe they were just campers!

“Can you believe their gall?” the ‘w’ man says, pouring himself a cup of coffee from a thermos into a tea cup with more threes painted on it. It was a Folgers Hazelnut blend, Chopper realized with a sniff. Light roast. Only for casual coffee drinkers. That makes him feel a little bit better somehow.

“Expecting me to help out!” the ‘w’ man continues, taking a sip, the steam fogging up his glasses. “I shouldn’t have to answer for their incompetence. Defeated by some ‘monster’ and having their guns stolen.” He clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “It’s like the recruiters aren’t even trying these days.”

“So why did you want him to come back and bring reinforcements?” the girl asks, tilting her head to one side and than the other.

“For our benefit, of course! We’ll find our target, use them as cannon fodder and then then take the credit.”

“They won’t like that.”

“It’s their fault for being peons,” ‘W’ says, waving a dismissive hand, and then Chopper realizes the truth. This guy is such a jerk that he has to be an Officer Agent, like Karoo said. He’d better be careful that they don't see him. But where could the antidote be? In the van maybe? Well, Chopper can check, even if it is all the way across the clearing. Chopper swallows, his knees shaking a little until he firms himself up. He has to be brave. Brave like Doctor Hiriluk. He sets his jaw and then peers around the tree one way and then the other. No one else is around.

Nerves flutter in his stomach and to he tries to swallow them down as he sneaks beyond the cover of the forest, angling to walk behind 'W's chair. It’s not that hard. He won’t be caught. Just so long as he’s quiet and keeps his teeth from chattering as sweat forms under his hair.

“Not that they can help but be pathetic compared to me,” ‘W’ continues. “It’s brains that rule the world. Not brawn. You just have to look at the outcome to know! Them, a pathetic bunch of morons. Me, a criminal mastermind with one mission under his belt, another in potentia and a third right around the corner. And I’ve barely had to lift a finger to do it!”

He’s so powerful, even if he does drink light roast! Chopper can’t help but watch him in amazement, wondering just what kind of guy he is. ‘W’ lifts the tea cup only for it to bend like paper against his lips.

“Gyaa!” Chopper squeaks, leaping to the side at the same time ‘W’ bellows:

“Gyaa! Damnit, Goldenweek! When did you replace this?!”

O-oh, she had replaced the cup? It looked so real! Chopper breathes a sigh of relief! So he’s not strong enough bend ceramics with his lips. He looks up and notices that the girl is staring straight at him and Chopper jolts again.

Ahh! Oh no! He was seen! They are going to do horrible things to him! Like take him back to the lab or bend him like paper with their lips! He wants to scream and run as fast as he can but he reminds himself ‘antidote’! And in a moment of sheer panic, freezes in place and hopes she doesn’t notice him.

She blinks.

A tremble goes through him. Probably standing on one foot wasn’t a good idea but he can’t relax now!

“When you weren't looking,” the girl says, looking away. Chopper tears for the van as fast as he can, skids around to the other side and, noticing the driver’s side window is open, clambers in and dives behind the seat, landing on something tough and breathing hard. The girl’s somewhat muffled voice comes in through the window.

“But if we let them kill those guys, how are we going to lure in the princess?”

“What princess?”

There is a faint rattle of paper and then a greater rattling as if it’s been snatched away.

“Why didn’t you show me this fax sooner?!” ‘W’ snaps, and then: ‘No. Never mind. Shut up. I need to think.”

And then quiet.

Chopper takes a deep breath, lets it out. He’s okay. For now he’s okay. Somehow. He blinks in the gloom of the inside of the van, made even darker as it’s parked under the shade of the trees. But there is some speckled light coming in through the lace. It's not much but it'll have to do. He has to find the antidote and get out of here before he’s caught for real!

He sets his hand down on something warm and fleshy and shrieks, bolting to the other side of the van and sending a pile of pictures scattering everywhere. A bunch of signed pictures of the ‘w’ guy smile strongly up at him, fingers rubbing the chin in a cool thinking pose. Below them, Chopper can make out someone dressed in bright yellow. But the clothes look off somehow. He presses a finger to it. It feels like wax. A sniff further confirms this.

But… He looks at his hand. He really had felt something warm and fleshy. He looks back down at the body and notices something red and round sticking above the pictures. He reaches up, hesitates, then squishes it between his fingers.

Ah! It’s warm! He jerks his hand away. Then realizes there’s more underneath the pictures and pushes them away to find the face of a clown, with makeup and everything, short blue hair fanning out behind him so he kind of looks like the picture of sleeping beauty he saw in a picture book once. Chopper touches his face and finds that its warm and skin like. But somehow or another, below the neck, he’s all wax.

Was this how Luffy’s friend would end up? No… it couldn’t be. Maybe it’s some strange new type of disease. Chopper wants to study it and help this strange clown guy out only…

Only he doesn’t have the time… It’s ticking away precious second after precious second.

“I’ll come back and help you if I can,” he tells the clown guy solemnly. But first the antidote. There are a few suitcases and boxes around so he starts opening them and peering inside. He finds clothes, more pictures like the first, art stuff, a couple of stacks of boxes belonging to Dr. Vegapunk’s No Fail Correspondence School… ropes and handcuffs…What kind of van is this? As he continues to search, he keeps an ear on the outside, just in case either of them decide to come looking.

“Why don’t we just leave that weird guy behind,” the girl is saying. “We don’t need him.”

“I told you, he’s promotion material. Since he was involved in the destruction of one our feeder arenas, it stands to reason the boss will want him eventually. If I bring him first, maybe even before the request is given! I’ll be promoted to two in no time. Maybe even one.”

“He takes up space,” the girl is saying. “…And he’s ugly.”

“Well you’re the one who painted him yellow,” ‘W’ says. “Now, be quiet. I'm still thinking. The problem is, we’re going to have to advance our own mission considerably. Just capturing the creatures to lure it out isn’t going to be quick enough…”

“But…”

“Shh, I said.”

Silence again. Chopper opens an important looking briefcase and finds there are pictures in here too, with papers attached to them. One of them is of the clown guy… Just from looking at it, Chopper can tell he wasn’t originally wax. What could have happened to him?

He picks up another picture…

And sits back on his legs, feeling like he’s been hit in the gut with a cold stone as he sees himself.

Dressed in the white lab shirt. Staring heavy lidded at the camera.

Subject: ZD14701-A

Experiment Start Date: Redacted

Species: Deer Zoan

Wanted: Alive

Reward: $32,500 c$45,099

“Reindeer,” Chopper murmurs, because Doctor Hiriluk and Doctorine had said so. He can’t help but keep reading. Height. Weight. History. Suspected whereabouts.

He wants to tear the paper up and bury it somewhere. But it probably won’t matter. They probably know about it all already and even if they didn’t, there are probably more of these around. He’s seen them before— or something like them… and he notes dully that the reward has gone up.

There’s another page too. Chopper almost doesn’t want to turn it, but he does and the paper begins to rattle a little. Under the title accomplices. There’s information about Doctorine. About Mr. Dalton. Even one of the zoans Chopper barely remembers, picture crossed through with a red x and the words ‘eliminated’ written beside it.

Eliminated… Just like Doctorine and Mr. Dalton would be. They couldn’t hope to stand up to people this strong. Even Karoo had said that it was best to run from them, and Chopper agreed. They would die… Like that zoan… Like Doctor Hiriluk. All because of him.

Chopper runs his fingers over the picture. He faintly hears footsteps coming closer and doesn’t startle too much when the back doors of the van are flung open and he finds himself blinking rapidly in the sudden sunlight at the dark eyed girl.

“How’d he get in there?!” 'W' shrieks. The girl keeps Chopper’s gaze.

“You’re the one we’re looking for,” she says. He nods, closing the file softly and holding it in his lap.

“Are you really going to hurt them if I don’t come?” he asks.

“Do we have to?” she says, turning slightly as if to ask ‘W’.

“Of course we have to,” ‘W’ says irritably. “Take some pride in your work even if you don’t want to do it.”

The girl lifts her shoulders in a shrug and turns her gaze back on Chopper.

“Well…?” she says.

He can’t answer right away. He knows he has to. They are way too strong for anyone to fight and maybe they shouldn’t have to. Maybe this shouldn’t be Doctorine's war anymore. Or Mr. Dalton’s.

Chopper takes one more look at the blue sky above the green trees and takes a deep smell, though sadly mostly he smells the inside of a van and picture paper and wax and the faint smell of paint. Birds are calling now, starting the slow descent into evening.

Finally he nods.

“I’ll come.”

And somehow the calm cool part of him that is a doctor bubbles up to the surface. “But I have a patient that got hit with HB-278A1. The torture drug,” he adds at her blank expression.

“Patient?”'W' guy says with a snort, but Chopper ignores him.

“Can you send an antidote to her? If you do I promise I won’t try to run away or anything.”

“You can’t run away because we’re the ones that caught you,” says the ‘w’ man. “Don’t presume to bargain with—”

“Okay,” the girl says.

“Goldenweek!”

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

“Stay here,” she says, and he does, legs hanging over the side, looking at the folders and the brown earth under his feet where the grass has been rutted with tire marks. This is fine. He’s fine. He can do this.

“I don’t see why we have to--“ ‘W’ starts.

“You’re an animal, right? So you have a good sense of smell, don’t you?” Goldenweek says as she comes back.

“M—Mm.” But he can’t do much more than that. It stings a little to even acknowledge it- - but if they want him to be an animal then… then he can do it. Just so long as he gets what he came for. He holds up a hand for the antidote and she holds her hand just above his in a fist, keeping whatever it is locked away.

“So you can smell out people or things.” She holds his gaze steadily. “Like guns.”

“Ohh,” ‘W’ says, knocking a fist into an open palm. Chopper swallows, fingers trembling. He doesn’t want to help them find guns. They can do anything with guns. They might even go after Luffy along with the other bad guys. But this might be his only chance to get the antidote and save that girl’s life. He can’t just let it go.

He nods, to more than just answering the question and she drops the antidote into his hand. It’s a pill bottle. How weird. Chopper thought it would be an injection or something but…. It’s fine. As long as it’s the antidote, who cares what form it takes? It’s also cold and strangely heavy like stone, but maybe that’s because the rest of him is.

But he has the antidote now. What he came for. He succeeded. It makes him feel a weird sort of calm. As if everything else in the future is on hold for a little while. He feels brave. Detached.

So it’s easy to come to a decision as he thumbs the weird grittiness of the pill bottle. He won’t find guns for them. Maybe he can lead them around in circles or something or get them lost in the deep woods. But he won’t let them hurt anyone else.

“We have company,” Goldenweek says.

“Who the hell is that?” ‘W’ snaps.

Chopper looks up. Luffy is coming through the trees toward them, passing in shadow and light, Karoo flying beside him. The calm vanishes in an instant. Oh no! Luffy can’t be here! It’s super dangerous! Doesn’t he know these guys are officer agents? Doesn’t he know they’re looking for guns? He expects Luffy to realize he’s being watched and run or at least go hide behind one of the trees.

But he doesn’t do any of that. Chopper nearly falls over as he comes right into the clearing and raises a hand in greeting.

“Yo.”

“What do you want?” ‘W’ says, hand resting near a pouch slung from his belt. “Do you even know where you are?”

“Not really. By the way, do you have an antidote?”

Ahh, he can’t just ask that! He needs to leave! Now! Chopper scrambles forward out of the van, but the ground is further than he expects and he stumbles a bit, hopping to regain his balance.

“Another one?” ‘W’ grumbles. “What do I look like? A pharmacy?”

“I have it!” Chopper says, breathlessly, rushing over to him and waving it. “I have it! Here!”

“Oh, you do?” Luffy says with a grin as Chopper plops it in his hand. “Great job!”

“Ahaha, it’s not that great!” Chopper says, his face stinging with pleasure as he rubs the back of his head. “Shut up, you bastard. It’s really nothing.” Except he’s getting distracted. “But I got it so you can go now.”

“Okay,” Luffy says as Karoo perches on his shoulder and looks nervously around. “Let’s go!” And for a moment Chopper’s breath catches, because he wants to go! He can imagine himself going with them, running back into the woods with joy and wild freedom. But then ‘W’ says:

“I don’t think so,” in a low dangerous voice. Out of the corner of his eye, Chopper sees him flick open a pouch attached to his belt and slip his fingers inside. He doesn’t know what’s in there but he really doesn’t want to know.

“No, you go,” Chopper says, giving Luffy’s leg a little push. “I- I’m staying here.” Because he has to, he reminds himself. For everyone’s safety.

“Huh? Why?” Luffy tilts his head to the side. “Are these guys your friends?”

“Uh—!” But ‘W’ is pulling something out of the pouch now saying:

“It’s too late for—”

“Don’t worry about it!” Chopper says, hoping if he interrupts the W guy nothing will happen. “Just go! Get out of here!”

Luffy frowns. “But the old hag is going to worry about you if you don’t show up. 

“Like I said,” ‘W’ says in the background. “It’s too late—”

“Th-that’s okay!” Chopper says, giving Luffy another, harder push. It’s like trying to move a rock. “She’ll be alright! Go on!”

“It’s too—”

“I don’t want to,”Luffy says.

“It’stoolateforthat, WAX BALLOON!”

“You’ve got to!”Chopper says, backing up and ramming him with his shoulder to get him going. They stumble and a white object whizzes to the ground just at Chopper’s left, exploding in a puff of smoke.

“I don’t have to!” Luffy says, giving him a shove back so that Chopper falls on his butt, then leaning back as ‘W’ shouts Wax Balloon again and another white ball flies just under his chin.

It’s getting more dangerous by the second! Why is he so stubborn?! Chopper thinks quick, dances to his feet and watches Luffy dance back to avoid another Wax Balloon. Then he knows.

“You have to go help your friend. To cure her.”

“Mmm,” Luffy frowns harder. “No way!”

“Wax Balloon!”

“What do you mean, no way?!” Chopper snaps. How could he even say something like that.

“It’s fine! She’ll be okay for a little longer! She promised to hang on!”

“Wax Balloon!”

“What people can promise and what they can do are two different--”

“Wax Balloon!!”

“Things! It’s time sensitive, damnit!”

“Then come with me!”

“Growf!”

“Wax Balloon!!!”

“I can’t!”

“Why not?!”

“Growf, growf!”

“Stay still, you bastards! WAX—!”

“Knock it off already!” he roars at the same time as Luffy and their fists crash into his face, side by side. The man is knocked back, flying through the air in an almost acrobatic arc, before hitting the ground head first and crumpling in a heap. Chopper glowers at the guy, fist clenched, breathing hard.

Then realizes.

“Oh no! We hit him!”

“So what?” Luffy says. “He was a jerk.”

“Yeah but, he’s really strong!” Chopper says, grabbing onto the side of Luffy’s shirt. “He can break ceramics with his lips!”

“Who cares?” Luffy says. “I can break a rock with my fist.” He clenches his fist hard. There’s a crumbling cracking sound and when he opens it again, the pill bottle has been crushed neatly in two, with a scattering of granite in his palm.

“Oooooh,” Chopper says applauding along with Lapu.

Then another shock:

“OH NO YOU BROKE THE ANTIDOTE!”

“OH NO I BROKE THE ANTIDOTE! QUICK! FIX IT, FIX IT!” Luffy thrusts his hand out at him and Chopper grabs his hand to pull it down and closer, trying to figure out just what to do, his mind whirring with crashing thoughts and panic.

'It’s a rock!' Karoo says suddenly, seeming startled.

“It’s a rock?” Chopper echoes.

“It is a rock…” Luffy says. Lapu lowers Luffy’s hand even further with a giant paw so she can peer at it. They stare at it for a moment. A wind blows through the leaves.

“Why the hell is it a rock?!’” he and Karoo shout, swatting the air with their hands, while Lapu adds in an annoyed. “Growwwf!”

“What a weird antidote!” Luffy says with a slight laugh. “Can you fix it?”

“It’s not the antidote. They lied,” Chopper says somberly. If he had fallen for it then Luffy’s friend really would have died. He looks at Goldenweek over his shoulder. She watches him blank as ever. He’s not mad at her for lying even if the trick would have cost the girl her life. People like this always lie.

But the fact is, it’s his fault to begin with. He went off to find the antidote without even knowing what it looked like, or what any of the contents were so he could potentially sniff it out. Even if they are liars, he is a doctor, or wants to be, and can’t afford to be tricked by medicine.

“Oi! Give us the real antidote! Or I'll send you flying,” Luffy snaps, punching his fist into his palm. Lapu mimics him, baring her teeth. Ah! Wait! What is Lapu doing here?! Chopper wants to give her a shove and tell her to go home, but he's not sure she can make it and he doesn't want anyone going after her where she can't be protected. He clenches his hands into fists.

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

“Okay. You've convinced me," says Goldenweek, in her flat voice, holding out a closed fist. "But you have to come here and get it."

"Eh? Really? Thanks!" Luffy says, starting forward, but Chopper throws a hand out to stop him.

“No,” Chopper says. "She's lying. Don't trust her whatever she says.” He looks up at Luffy. “Let me find the antidote for you.” He doesn’t know how he can, but he'll figure it out as he goes. "Can you look after Lapu? She's very fierce but she's just a baby." Since he doesn't know if he can focus on looking for the antidote if he's worried about her.

“You bet," Luffy says with a strong grin that Chopper really likes. It looks really brave. Chopper wishes he could do that too, but he just can't pull his mouth out of a frown.

'They're coming,' Karoo says in a too afraid to be afraid voice. Luffy nods and shifts into a fighting pose

"Who?" Chopper asks, since now he hears the sound of tires crunching along the gravel road, faint still, but drawing nearer.

"Your funeral procession," 'W' says in a creaky voice and Chopper glances over his shoulder to see the man getting to his feet, nose bent and weird ponytail limp and bedraggled. "You'll regret that punch."

He won't regret it, Chopper decides. No matter what happens from here on out. But now there are two enemies up and more coming. They need to get the antidote and get out of here quick before it's too late. But where could it be? Did he search the van thoroughly enough? Can he get it out of Goldenweek or 'W' somehow?

He sees a flicker of movement where Goldenweek was standing, but when he looks over finds she hasn't changed position from where she was before.

"And by the way... Wax Balloon!”

Oh crap! He'd forgotten about those! Luffy turns as Chopper does and time seems to slow as Chopper realizes he’s going to trip over the lump of wax in the grass a second before he does. Something explodes in Luffy’s face with a puff of smoke. Chopper instinctively ducks away from it, coughing, and when he looks up his eyes nearly pop out of his head.

"Aahh! Luffy!

A ball of wax has almost completely surrounded Luffy's head, making him look like a bizarre gumball machine. He staggers, clutching the ball, blunt fingernails scraping little curls of wax but not enough to make a dent.

“Let me help! Bend down!” Chopper cries. Luffy staggers back, bending his head. Chopper grabs the waxy ball and Karoo digs at it with his claws and Lapu scratches with hers, but the wax seems solid all the way through.

“You might as well count him dead,” ‘W’ says. “Same for all who try to stand up to the stunning intellect of Baroque Works.”

There is something strange about the way he is speaking. Chopper notices it even as he pulls as hard as he can. ‘W’ is too still and his voice seems to be coming from elsewhere. The trees seem still too. Something is wrong. And that car is coming closer. Chopper tries not to think about it as he resumes tugging on Luffy's wax head.

“Have you ever seen someone suffocate? It's a painful process," 'W' says, his voice still with that same muffled distant quality. "Even now, his lungs are starting to collapse as he claws for air, which he'll never have again. But don't worry, I'll let you see the mold after he dies and you'll come to understand the exquisite agony of my Wax Art."

Lapu scratches harder and harder, one of her claws snapping at the tip. She lets out an angry scratchy roar full of pain and then turns and charges 'W' before Chopper can stop her.

“No wait!” he cries.

But it’s too late. She pounces 'W', and somehow the trees and grass and sky bend with him. It's canvas, Chopper realizes with a start. A painted screen! Lapu lands hard, the canvas coming with her. There is a snap and a whizz of rope and suddenly Lapu is swinging from a steel net ten feet off the ground. She shrieks again and he can see her wriggling inside the canvas, tearing at it with her claws and trying to get out.

‘This is terrible!' Karoo quacks, flapping his wings in panic. 'I’ll go for help!’

“No, don’t!” Chopper calls, but it’s too late. Karoo is already off, flapping above the treeline. Chopper wishes he could drag him back. He can’t go for help! There is no one to help! Mr. Dalton is too injured and so is Sanji and he can’t drag Doctorine into this!

“That looks like one of the royal messenger ducks,” Goldenweek says, her voice floaty too.

“Why didn’t you say so before?!” ‘W’ snaps. Chopper hears footsteps to his left and shifts to see 'W' emerging from behind another draped canvas to scowl upward. How many canvases are there!? It’s hard to tell! There seem to be woods all around them now! No. He can't focus on that. He can't care about it. He has to get Luffy free! He tugs harder and Luffy pulls back, fingers going white from the strain and slides a little as his sandal slips on the grass.

Chopper's heart sinks as he hears the car coming right into the campground, the engine rattling off. He has a faint hope it might be someone who is on their side. As much as he doesn't want Doctorine involved, they could use a rifle right about now. But as he glances over his shoulder he sees the same guys that shot at them a few nights ago get out of the dented black car. There are five of them, bandaged up improperly and looking unhappy. One of them is carrying what looks like a gun in a holster at his hip.

Ahh! They have him surrounded! What can he do?! What can he do?! Chopper tugs the wax hard, half tempted to grab Luffy and run toward the woods and to freedom. But they'll never make it that far. Not with this many guys. His only hope is to either get it off or break it but how can he do that?!

Chopper stops pulling for a second, trying to think, but his thoughts are slippery as goldfish..

"You want us to go after the bird, boss?" says one of the men.

"No, we'll worry about it later later." 'W' says. "And as for you!” W stares straight at him and Chopper flinches. “You can’t hope to escape so you might as well give up while I’m feeling magnanimous." As he speaks, he reaches into the belt pouch and pulls out one of those white balls.

Behind him the men come to a stop, but they are close, maybe ten or so feet away, and Chopper can smell their sweat. Goldenweek hasn't moved yet but that doesn't mean she won't soon!

Ahh! He's going to die! They're all going to die! He tugs at the wax ball frantically.

"Come on! Get off! Get off, get off, get off!" he cries.

"I see," 'W' says. "Have it your way. Wax Ball!"

"Oh no!" Chopper shrieks. A strong hand wraps around his wrist, making him jump and he has only a second to realize it's Luffy's hand before he's flung away, the white ball whizzing just past his nose to crash into the ground in front of the bad guys who yelp and jump back to avoid it.

"Hey! Watch it, boss!" one of them snaps.

"You watch it!'" W growls.

Chopper lands hard on the grass, rolling a bit before hitting the side of the latticework table. He hugs the stem of the table, wishing he could hide behind it. Wishing that there was Doctorine there with her gun or for Mr. Dalton to come raging into the clearing as a bull and knock them all aside. Or even for Luffy to heroically tear off the wax and punch them all down. But none of that happens. Instead Luffy staggers once more and starts to sag. He's really going to die if nothing happens!

But what can Chopper even do?! He's surrounded and outgunned and everything!

Except...Doctor Hiriluk had been too. Chopper can still see it vividly, him standing under the blazing spotlights as bullets sang around him, alone and vulnerable with only smoke bombs to lob and distract them. He had saved a lot of people that way.

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

Chopper didn't have Doctor Hiriluk's strength or wisdom or smoke bombs, but he could at least have Doctor Hiriluk's courage. He can't take on all those guys himself maybe. But Luffy can. And more importantly, Luffy needs help. No matter what else happens, Chopper can't let him die.

He takes a precious second to steel himself, then shifts into reindeer form, probably the fastest he’s ever done in his life. Then he charges out from under the table and knocking it to the ground with a loud clang in the process.

"Where the hell did that come from?" one of the men yelps and even W hesitates which gives Chopper just the window he needs.

He pushes Luffy down on the ground with as gentle a headbutt he can manage, rears up and then slams his front hooves against the wax ball, using his full weight. He can feel the ball give a little. So he does it a second time. A third. A crack seams through the middle of the ball.

“Damnit! Wax balloon!” W snaps.

Chopper twists out of the way at the last minute, pivoting on front hooves and delivering a final back kick to the wax ball before another wax balloon comes hurtling toward him and he bounds for the direction of the trees. Hopefully that’ll be enough to let Luffy breathe at least! For now Chopper's going to circle around through the woods and try to get behind them.

Except as he approaches the woods, he can suddenly smell paint. Chopper jams to a stop, hooves digging furrows in the earth.

Oh no! Not another one! Where is the real forest? He glances around, trying to figure out what is real and what isn't.

“Don’t just stand there! Get him!” W snaps.

The men start as if shocked out of their surprise and begin to boil to life. But one of them holds out an arm, and pulls the gun out of a holster at his side.

“Hold it! I’ve got a clear shot!”

Chopper jumps to the side just as there’s a pop of air and something thuds to the ground where he was. He has only a second to see the fluffy end of the dart before the guy raises the tranquilizer gun again.

Chopper yelps and dives away from it, though the dart is closer this time, scraping some keratin from his hoof in a black sliver. He can’t keep running like this!

Then he sees W out of the corner of his eye and gets an idea. Chopper swerves again, lowers his head and charges him, moving in a zig zag pattern to keep out of the dart’s path. W’s face pales and he backs up, digging in his bag with one hand while holding the other palm up.

“W-Wait!”

Another dart whistles through the air, missing him narrowly.

“Stop shooting, idiots!” W howls and in that moment Chopper takes a leap, slamming into his chest head first and feeling the hat crumple. His heart jolts but he shakes it away because there is no time.

W falls to the ground, skidding a few feet and Chopper dances away from him so he won’t trample him and then comes back and puts a hoof on the center of his chest with enough pressure so that getting up won’t be easy.

The man with the gun starts to reload and Chopper glances at them.

“If you try to shoot me I’ll crush his rib cage,” Chopper tells them in as even a voice as he can. Though even as he says it, he’s not sure he can. He knows what bone fragments can do. Puncture a lung. Pierce a heart. Chopper’s not sure if he can kill him but he can crack a few ribs at least.

The men are staring at him wide-eyed as if they believe his threat. They must care for W a lot if they don’t want him to get hurt. A feeling almost like shame creeps over him.

“It talked!” one of the men says, sounding dumbfounded and the shame feeling vanishes a little.

“Of course it talked, dumbass! It’s a zoan!” says the gun guy, but even he is sweating. They are afraid of him. Chopper’s not sure what to make of it but a part of him wants them to be afraid of him. Let them be scared and shaking for once.

W squirms and Chopper applies more pressure with his hoof, a threat. It feels good and bad at once. He doesn’t want to hurt him permanently. Or anyone. But he feels like he can. And it’s a good feeling somehow. The thought makes him shudder.

“You won’t crush anyone,” Goldenweek says in her flat voice. Chopper looks up and flinches to see she’s holding a rifle pointing straight at him. But ahh! There's another Goldenweek right beside her, holding a rifle as well! And the one who had been standing there watching the whole thing hasn't moved! How many Goldenweeks are there?!

Chopper feels dizzy just trying to take it all in! He wants to bolt. Every instinct in him is telling him to run for safety. But he swallows and remains where he is, quivering slightly. S-She won’t shoot him. They want him alive, right?

And… and maybe...maybe the rifles aren't even real.

"Hurry it up!" 'W' gasps and he wriggles again. Chopper looks down just in time to see one of his hands creeping for the pouch and carefully steps on it with a back hoof, pinning it to the ground, but lightly so as to not crush any of the bones in his wrist. Only now he's kind of unbalanced.

"How about this?" Goldenweek says, and when he looks up again he finds both of them pointing their rifles where Lapu is hanging. She's managed to get her head out of the canvas, but looks exhausted, head resting against the net and ears all the way back. She squeaks when she notices the weapon and curls into a ball. Is it a real gun? Is it fake? One look at Lapu's shivering form and Chopper knows he can’t risk it. He moves his hoof from W’s wrist, then his chest and backs away slowly. The man smirks before bringing his hand up.

“Wax collar!”

What?

The man’s hand smacks into his neck and Chopper sneezes at the sudden burst of white smoke which brings tears to his eyes. When he can see again he can just see it and feel the weight of it around his neck, the wax clinging to his fur. But he can definitely see the chain leading from it to W’s hands.

Chopper rears and pulls, trying to get away from it. He can’t be caught again! He won’t go back there again! Not to that place!

“Let go! Let me go!” he howls and can feel the chain start to loosen. If only he can--

“Shoot him!” W snaps. There is another pop of air just as he rears and the dart buries itself into one of the wax links. Suddenly there is a large clang and Lapu screeches in fright. Chopper looks just in time to see something drop from the net to the ground but there’s not time to see what it is as his attention is drawn once more to the rifle in her hands.

“Don’t make me,” Goldenweek says. One of them. And this time he sees her mouth move. The other two stand as they are. Unblinking. They must not be real. Or they are really good at being still.

Above, Lapu whimpers, clutching at her face. Chopper can smell blood, but it's the sharp faint smell of a tiny scratch and not the deep alarming smell of a bigger wound. Still he settles a little, sides heaving. He is just about to bow his head when he sees Luffy coming up behind the Goldenweeks. His face is red, just starting to bruise and there are wax lumps clinging to his hair but his eyes are like stone.

Chopper frantically tries to figure out a way to warn him where the real one is. But strangely, Luffy seems to know just which one it is. In a fluid movement, like a dream, he steps up behind Goldenweek, takes the rifle from her, and snaps it in half over his knee. There is the sharp sweet smell of pine. Goldenweek looks at him over her shoulder, the red spots standing out vivid against her paling face. Then without another word she turns and bolts into the forest.

“What the—” W says.

“Ah shit! It’s that kid again!” one of the men says. “Shoot him! Make sure you hit him this time!”

“Don’t get hit! Luffy!” Chopper calls. Luffy dodges back from a dart that lands between his feet and bolts into the wood himself. Chopper realizes it’s his chance and yanks himself free of W’s loosened grip before charging after him, following him into the safety of the forest.

“Hey stop!” Luffy says. Chopper skids to a stop and finds Luffy behind some weird white screen that reminds him of a movie theater that is hanging from a row of trees. It takes Chopper a moment to realize it’s the reverse side of a painted screen.

He follows Luffy behind it, still nervous, muscles twitching a little and watches as Luffy grabs the chain where it’s attached to the collar and pulls. His muscles strain and a vein pushes up under the skin but finally the wax pulls away with a snap.

“How did you get away?” Chopper says breathlessly, feeling already like a weight has been lifted.

“I rolled under the van,” Luffy says with a grin. “Like a said, I’m like a gorilla.” And he pounds his chest. Chopper blinks at him. He still doesn’t get it. But now is not the time. He can hear one of the men telling the others to spread out and W snaps:

“Find them!”

They’re still in trouble. Lapu starts to cry as if realizing she’s alone, long bellowing baby lapin sounds that sound across the forest. Chopper wants to show himself so that she’ll know she hasn’t been left behind, but he knows he can’t right now. Also he still doesn’t have the antidote.

“You can’t get hit by that,” Chopper whispers. “I think it’s the same stuff your friend got hit by.”

“Gotcha,” Luffy says, lifting the chain and pulling out the dart that had lodged in it. “If only I could get more of this stuff.”

That stuff? Oh, he must mean the wax. Chopper isn’t really sure. But then he remembers something.

“Oh! There’s a sad wax guy in the van…!” Except… “He might be a little hard to get to… But… But I can cause a distraction.”

“What if you get hit with one of these things?” Luffy asks, frowning. Chopper thinks.

“It’ll be okay, I think. I’m a zoan so it might take a while to do anything.”

“Alright,” Luffy says, that grin back and bigger than ever. He grips the screen. “Let’s go!” And tears it down in one solid move. For a moment Chopper is left blinking in the light and bad guys who are left, staring at him as if also surprised.

There’s no time for much shock. Chopper charges forward, this time aiming for the latticework table. He crashes into it, flipping it up in the air and toward the men making them scramble. There is a shot and Chopper leaps away but feels a flash of pain across his ankle. It doesn’t matter, he tells himself. It’ll be okay.

He bucks and leaps and listens for the sound of ‘wax balloon’, then startles when he hears a loud clang. Luffy has thrown open the back of the van.

“You!” says a voice from within.

“Oh it’s you,” Luffy says with a look of irritation. “I’m gonna borrow you.”

“What?"

Chopper watches dumbfounded as he pulls the blue clown guy out of the van and sets him on his feet. He looks like he’s in some kind of brightly colored Egyptian sarcophagus. The men look kind of dumbfounded too as Luffy turns the blue clown guy around so he’s facing the men, steps behind him and then, gripping him from both sides, lifts him up and charges.

“What the hell are you doing?!” the blue clown guy screams. The men seem to get a better idea. The first one fires frantically while the two others look like they are going to attack him from the side. Chopper sees the gleam of a knife in one of their hands.

“Luffy!” he cries, trying to get at him only to trip on one of the overturned chairs. Luffy glances to the side before lifting the blue clown guy up even further, tossing him at the gun guy so the clown hits him face first with his feet and they both go down. Then he grabs the knife guy by the wrist and pivots, throwing him at his companion who dodges and comes at him with brass knuckles flashing.

Chopper wants to help, but his back leg starts shaking as if it wants to give out on him and a weird kind of weariness pulls at him. It doesn’t take a moment for Chopper to realize why. The dart… It had grazed him. It is really potent stuff.

He has to find the antidote. He’s not sure if these guys have it on them or not and it will be hard to tell once they are unconscious. He can ask W, but the man will probably lie again. Unless….

Chopper gives Luffy’s fight one more concerned look as he seems to be taking on two guys now. A third guy comes crashing in from the forest to attack. But Luffy can handle this. He said he could. So Chopper bows his head and decides to trust him before raising his head to the sky and sniffing out W.

The scent isn’t hard to find. Chopper creeps out of sight and shifts back into human, stifling the yelp as the wax collar drops heavily onto his collarbone. He swallows, shakes his head, and gets himself back on the trail. The scent leads him behind one of the other backdrops. W’s back is to him as he watches the fight which he can see clearly, his hand in his pouch with a wax ball clutched just on his fingertips.

Chopper steels himself and sneaks up right behind him as best he can with his leg shaking. He rattles a nearby bush and W starts to turn so Chopper acts quickly, lifting the back of his shirt and jabbing at a nerve, just like he’s seen Doctorine do countless times.

“What—” W says.

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

“I’ve poked you with your own needle,” Chopper says with a steady doctor voice. “If you want to survive, you better show me where the antidote is.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday,” W says, but his voice seems shaky. “Besides which I’m smarter than you, peabrain. What makes you think I’d believe—”

“Your legs are numb, aren’t they?”

There is a pause and then a curse. W’s hand clutches around the ball but Chopper pokes it hard before jerking his hand back as the balloon explodes, sending wax up W’s hand. W curses again and Chopper uses the moment to yank the bag from his belt so he can’t use it again, tossing it deeper into the woods.

“Come on,” he says, giving the shaky legged man another poke. W limps into the clearing just as Luffy bashes two of the men’s heads together with a resounding crack and leaves them to fall limp on top of the now unconscious clown guy.

Luffy turns toward them and raises his fists.

“Hold on, you imbecile!” W snaps, holding up his hands.

“He’s going to help,” Chopper says, warily. Luffy lowers his fists but doesn’t take his eyes from W as he staggers toward the gun guy, falling to his knees and reaching a sweaty shaking hand toward the belt pouch. There are two hypodermics in there with amber liquid.

Chopper grabs W’s hand and makes him let them go with a pressure poke to the wrist.

“Hey!” W says.

“I was lying. You're okay,” Chopper says, holding the vials to him and stumbling back before landing on his butt, the numb feeling starting to spread to his hip. W scowls and starts to go after him but Luffy grabs him by the scruff of the neck and chucks him behind them. The W guy hits the dented black car and stills.

Chopper nods, shaking a little, and inspects the scratch on his ankle though he has to part the hair to do so. It doesn’t look bad but a few spots are starting to form… He uncaps the needle and depresses the top a bit until the amber liquid beads on the tip.

If he’s wrong it could go very badly.

But he’s pretty sure he’s right.

He swallows and dabs the liquid along the open cut. There is a kind of burning sensation but so far so good, so he dabs a little more.

He can hear a sort of pounding now, trembling faintly along the ground. For a minute he thinks it might be his heart but then Lapu growfs happily and he realizes the Lapin are coming.

More importantly sensation is starting to return to his leg! And the spots fade as the antidote kicks in. He’s done it! He really has!

“I found it!” Chopper says, capping the antidote carefully before leaping up in the air. “I found it! I found it!”

“You did?! Really?!” Luffy says grinning brightly.

“Yeah!”

“Yahoo! You found it!” he cries, pumping his fists in the air.

“Yahoo I found it!” Chopper says. He feels like he wants to dance and so he does. He did it! Luffy’s friend will be okay now! Everyone will be okay! No one died! Because he did it! He did!

“Let’s have a big party!” Luffy cheers.

“Yeah, lets!” Chopper says, heart pounding even louder then the lapin brigade that is crashing through the bush toward them.

“I wouldn’t celebrate too early,” W says and Chopper blinks to find him holding the gun guy’s tranquilizer gun. His legs are shaking and his hand too, the other one still trapped in wax at his side.

“I don’t care, I’ll bring you in dead if I have to.” Sweat dabbles his upper lip. Just then the Lapin crash into the clearing. W pales and seems to wilt.

Fufu calmly comes over to him and pulls himself up to his full height, towering nine feet not even counting the ears. W turns toward them, lifting the gun and firing it. A shudder goes through the giant lapin but otherwise he doesn’t flinch. Instead he scoops up W by the neck and calmly pops him on the head with a closed fist.

W goes limp.

Fufu shudders again then tips forward like a great white tree, smashing onto the ground face first with only W to break his fall.

“Ahh! Bunny guy!” Luffy says.

Lapu squeaks in distress from her net and the other lapin surge forward in concern. Chopper rushes over and checks Fufu’s pulse and then his eyes. It’s just as he thought. With a sigh he rests back on his haunches.

“It’s fine,” he says, patting Fufu’s head. “Lapin aren’t zoan exactly but it’s just like a sedative to him. He’ll wake up in a few hours maybe.”

Everyone relaxes and Chopper flops on the ground, letting out a long breath, feeling exhausted yet happy. There is the tap of sandals on the ground and Luffy crouches down beside him, grinning.

“We make a great team, huh?” he says, holding up his fist. Eh?! Is this really a fist bump? Chopper has seen them but has never done it himself. He covers his mouth to hide a giddy giggle and then bumps his fist against Luffy’s.

Ah! So cool!

He is part of a team and with a fistbump too! He wants to flop back in the grass with his arms outspread and roll around as the happy feeling blooms in his stomach. He isn’t even worried when he hears people jogging up the gravel road, instead standing and getting into a fighting position as the lapin’s ears raise.

It isn’t anyone scary, though, but Doctorine and Sanji, Karoo circling above them warily but then letting out a relieved ‘kweh’. The two stop and Doctorine takes in the scene wide eyed before propping the rifle back on her shoulder.

“Well look at this mess you’ve made,” she says, sounding almost cheerful. “Is it always like this with you around?”

“You don’t know the shitty half of it,” Sanji says with a tight smile even as he lights the cigarette. “Did you get what you came for?”

“Chopper did,” Luffy says. “He was great!”

“Aw, not that great!” Chopper says, laughing and kicking the ground, his cheeks reddening as he hides his hands behind his head. “Shut up, asshole. Hee hee hee.”

“Be that as it may we have a lot of work…” Doctorine trails off as she looks down at him. He blinks, wondering suddenly if she’s angry with him. He shores himself up determined to be brave even if she snaps. But she just kneels down, setting the rifle on the ground and pulling a scalpel out of seemingly nowhere. A few of Chopper’s back hairs raise as the point glints in the light.

“Ahh! Old hag! Don’t skin him!” Luffy says.

“I should,” Doctorine says. “I don’t have patience for brats who don’t do as they’re told.”

He would do it again. Again and again if he had to.

“I wanted to help the girl,” he says in as even a voice as he can manage.

“And you managed it,” Doctorine says, but the tone of her voice doesn’t make it sound like it’s a good thing. “And now they know where you are.” She lifts the wax collar with one finger and cuts through it in one fluid motion.

That’s true… It’s all true but still… Still…! It feels right! They had fought! They had won! It had been hard but they had done it!

“Anyway me and blondy over here will take care of the mess,” Doctorine says, rising and shouldering the rifle once more. “You go and take care of your patient.”

“Okay,” Chopper says.

“You can go with him,” she tells Luffy. “There may be more goons around and that antidote is as precious as life.”

“Gotcha!” Luffy says with something almost like a salute. Chopper is glad that Luffy is coming with him. It makes him feel a little warmer and safer and happier. He casts one more look at Doctorine but she’s already nudging the downed bad guys with her toe, checking their responses.

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

Chopper wants to say something to her, though he’s not sure what. Something to make her forgive him maybe but… But nevermind. He’s not sorry about what he did. Luffy is watching him curiously, waiting on him. Chopper straightens his shoulders and takes a moment to put the antidote in his backpack, making sure it’s secure and not likely to break before shouldering it, lifting his head.

“Let’s go,” he says and starts walking. Luffy falls into step by his side, hands behind his head and looking up at the sky. Chopper is glad they were a team. Even for a short while. Just thinking about it makes him feel proud. Like he can take on anything. Maybe even Doctorine one day… But he won’t think about that part now. He has a patient to treat.

—

Chopper is beyond exhausted. It’s night. Late. The frogs are singing their songs. The fireflies are flickering through the grasses and trees. He wants nothing more than to curl in his bed and sleep there until next afternoon. But the girl… Luffy’s friend… Nami is still in it right now and he has to monitor her condition.

Which he has been doing. He’s been vigilant about it. But her progress is slow. The spots have almost completely faded and her coloring is a bit flushed due to the low fever, but she’s getting better. Doctorine says it’ll take a couple weeks for her to get completely back on her feet because the drug was in her system so long. More if they travel, and they don’t have a choice about that.

He dabs the cool cloth against her head again then checks her pulse. She is holding steady. Maybe soon she’ll wake up and then he can crawl in the closet nest that he and Lapu had made… whenever that was. Chopper yawns so widely he swears hears his jaw crack, then once more looks out the window.

There is just enough moonlight seeping through the trees so he can see Fufu flopped out on the front lawn, looking like a lump of snow, Lapu curled on his arm. The other lapin are arranged near their leader, like equaly lumpy snowmen.

But what really draws his attention is the three van, parked in the driveway. That’s how they’d gotten Fufu here in the first place. He is a pretty big lapin after all. Though not so big that Luffy couldn’t handle it. Chopper’s eyes had nearly fallen out of his head as Luffy had pulled Fufu from the van, almost supporting him completely before laying him gently on the grass.

He is so strong!

Right now, Luffy is lying on his belly on top of the van with Karoo, watching with interest as Sanji, between fits and starts and clutching his ribs, makes a bed in the back for Nami. The van is the easiest way to go unnoticed for a time. It might be the only thing they can use, especially since Mr. Dalton’s car is completely totaled.

And by tomorrow they will be gone.

And he’ll probably never see them again.

Chopper isn’t sure how he feels about this, but some strange emotion sits coiled in the center of his chest. It’s almost like when he’s gone for a while without eating or drinking.

Maybe he just needs sleep.

He moves his gaze from them to the lapin, and feels another tug. Tomorrow the lapin will be gone too. He wants to believe they will have changed their minds since then, but he doubts they will. Even now they are nervous. Chopper can get it. Right now the bad guys except for Goldenweek are tied up in the woods. But that won’t last long.

From the living room, there is a creaky sigh as Mr. Dalton adjusts his weight on the couch. Probably watching the door and waiting for Doctorine to return from patrolling. Chopper tilts his head toward the sound. He’ll be gone soon too. He'd said as much. He plans to go in the opposite direction to throw the bad guys off the trail. Chopper is used to his leaving, but wishes he would wait until he wasn’t quite so banged up.

Nami shifts and Chopper turns his attention toward her but she’s gone still again. He kicks his feet and then takes the hat from his head to look at it. It’s dented in. Squashed. Not badly, but bad enough. He doesn’t regret this either. Not much. But he wishes things would stop getting squashed or bruised or shot at or broken.

Chopper sighs and then yawns again, just in time for Mr. Dalton to come thump-bumping to the doorway. Filling the doorway. He’s so big, if he wants to come in, he has to do so sideways. Chopper wants to be that big one day. To have broad shoulders and lots of firm muscles. Maybe it comes with being a bull though.

“I can take over if you want,” Mr. Dalton tells him with a small smile. Chopper shakes his head and straightens, trying to wake himself up as best he can and shoves his hat on his head. Coffee will just make him manic right now so he has to try his best on his own.

“I’m okay.” She is his patient and his responsibility. Mr. Dalton breathes a laugh.

“You’ve got her stubbornness down anyway.” He slowly lowers himself into a nearby chair, wincing a little as he rests his leg on the bed. There’s quiet for a moment as he folds his big hands over his stomach. The clock ticks. Luffy raises his voice outside. Chopper can’t make out his words exactly but he sounds excited. He’d almost rather be out there.

“It’s been pretty scary, hasn’t it?” Mr. Dalton says. “But don’t worry. Soon it’ll all be over.”

“What will?” says a soft, unfamiliar voice and Chopper nearly falls out of his own chair as he realizes Nami is awake! She looks good too! Her eyes are still glazed but they are focused on him!

“Um um… nothing,” Chopper says, flustered, not even sure how to answer her question just yet. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I’ve just been mowed down by a mac truck,” Nami says, a faint smile on her mouth. “But I’ll survive.” Her brow furrows and she looks around. “And Luffy? Sanji?”

Oh, right!

“Outside! I’ll get them!”

Chopper scrambles to the window and throws it open; calling out across the night: “She’s awake!”

Luffy woops and rolls off the van. Sanji pops out of the back of it and suddenly Chopper has to scrabble madly back to the bed as they charge the window and both try to come through it at the same time, getting stuck cheek to cheek in the casement.

“Hey! You’re awake!” Luffy says gleefully. “You’re gonna be okay now right? Hey I found something really cool you’re gonna like!”

“Nami-swan! I was so worried!” Sanji cries at the same time. “Let me serve you with my whole shitty heart until you recove— Oi! Move it!” He pushes at Luffy’s cheek.

“You move it! I wanna get in!” Luffy snaps. They struggle a bit and there’s a muffled kweh before Karoo appears above their heads, squirming to get in himself and making the tangle even worse. Chopper’s mouth twitches upward. He’s not sure whether he’s supposed to laugh at this or not.

He debates on helping out but then Luffy squeezes another hand through and pushing on the wall and Sanji’s face, and pops into the room at a tumble. Sanji falls in after him while Karoo flaps wildly, his sudden perch gone. Chopper catches the duck before he crashes, torn between laughing and being worried over Sanji’s ribs.

“You guys are so damn noisy,” Nami says, but she sounds happy. “Anyway, let’s go. We’ve already wasted enough time…” she stirs as if trying to get up and her brows furrow as if she’s in pain.

“I wouldn’t just yet,” Mr. Dalton says gravely, putting a hand on her shoulder. “There are plans to leave in the morning and you need your rest.”

“But…”

“It’s probably better to rest tonight,” Sanji says, giving her a warm smile as he leans on the wall next to the window, hands in his pockets. “It’s a long shitty way to Vegas.”

“Yeah and we still gotta fix up the van for you,” Luffy says. “I wanna get a hammock still.”

“We’re not getting a shitty hammock,” Sanji snaps. “I told you we don’t have time to look for one and no place to put it shitty up.”

“Still I want one,” Luffy says, putting a hand on his hip and jabbing the finger of the other in Nami’s direction. “Nami! Buy me one!”

A heel drop sends Luffy smashing face first to the floor before Sanji pulls him up by the back of his collar.

“Apologize, you idiot. She just woke up!”

“Sowwy,” Luffy says through swollen lips.

“Oh but… Hammocks aren’t hard to make,” Chopper says. “You can make one out of sheets!” He had never made one himself, but he’d seen it on TV once and it didn’t look difficult.

“Oh yeah!” Luffy says, popping his fist into his hand. “Come on! Help me make one.”

Luffy turns back toward the window.

“Luffy…” Nami says. He turns back toward her and she smiles up at him, lifting the straw hat though her wrist trembles. Luffy grins and bows his head so she can put it on. Chopper can’t help but smile. There’s something great about that. Something really heartwarming. He doesn’t know what it is but it’s kind of a nostalgic feeling.

“Don’t go far,” she murmurs.

“Gotcha!” he says then clambers out the window. Chopper wants to follow him. He really does. But… He casts an anxious look at Nami, wondering if he can really leave her. She waves her hand in a little shooing motion before letting it fall to her side.

Chopper just barely keeps the woop inside and goes to climb out the window himself. It’s not as easy as Luffy makes it look and he falls out the other side onto the soft grass.

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

"Okay, I'll wait for you," Luffy says. "Just put your stuff in the van and come back."

"Kay!" Chopper says and cheerfully, though staggering a little, makes his way back to the house. Inside is dim and stuffy. Missing the starry sky and the smells and the ‘there’ness. Now it’s just a stifling ‘here’ness. But it won't be a 'here'ness for long. As soon as he has the thought, it makes him a little sad. He feels a little spark of homesickness just under his ribs. But he shakes that away. He hasn't even left yet. He heads toward his room where Mr. Dalton is speaking in a low serious voice.

“He’s had a hard life. And I … have a lot of the blame for it.”

Chopper swallows a sigh. Who is Mr. Dalton blaming himself for now? He does it so much, Chopper almost thinks he likes it. Anyway he doesn’t want to hear it... but he wants to pack... Chopper debates on whether he really wants to go in or not, then notices the light under the door of the apothecary room. A faint rattling of papers means that Doctorine has returned. Chopper hesitates, he really should tell her about this. He can't just go away without saying some kind of goodbye. But she's not going to be happy about it. Maybe he can just wace to her from the back of the van? Even as Chopper thinks this, he knows that thought is beneath him. If hes' going to go with Luffy, he's going to have to be stronger than that... and Doctorine deserves better.

He raises his shoulders, and pushes open the door to the apothecary room. This room is even dimmer. The only lights come from the single desk lamp and the whitish-blue glow of the photocopier, whining and whirring in an effort to duplicate the papers that Doctorine is feeding it. He’s a little surprised because usually she doesn’t like to mess with the big bulky thing unless absolutely necessary. It's probably fine that she's going to have to leave it behind when they...when she moves.

He tries not to think about that and goes to help, at first trying to hand her papers in secret. She gives him a glance, pinning him like a fly to a corkboard and he can’t help but flinch a little. She’s still very mad. But she takes those papers from him and hands him a fresh stack, still hot from the photocopier. Chopper carefully hole punches them and puts them in the binder he assumes she’s using.

As he looks at the papers, he recognizes Doctor Hiriluk’s writing right off the bat. This one has the recipe for the sakura water on it and he wonders why Doctorine is copying it, but then figures it’s because it’s important to have copies. He tries to take some comfort in that familiar handwriting, but in the end can only be a little sad about that too.

The copying and sorting goes on. She says nothing. Nor does he. And for a little while it’s just him putting holes in papers and slipping them into the binder, occasionally brushing the leftover paper circles into the trash bin. He needs to say something. He needs to somehow tell her. But now that he's in the room with her, he wonders if going off with Luffy is really such a good idea. He wants to! He really does. It'll be fun and exciting and he will actually get to see things for once and do things! But he's been with Doctorine a while now and he owes her a lot-- and while he's not sure she'd be lonely without him, she'd probably miss having a hand in medication making and filing.

On the other hand, as long as he's here, she'll be in danger.

"So you made it back," Doctorine says abruptly. "Congratulations on a job well done. Don't expect to be so lucky next time." There's a smile in her voice as sharp as a scalpel. Chopper probably shouldn't say anything, but...

"It wasn't luck." Because it really wasn't! "We fought hard. We were a team."

"A team of fools maybe," Doctorine says, grabbing her plum wine bottle from the desk and taking a long swallow. Chopper shrugs and hunches over his work. Maybe that's true. He doesn't really know, but...

"I don't mind being a fool if it helps someone."

Doctorine grunts but says nothing else. Chopper fiddled with the edges of the paper, trying to find the words to say, trying to be brave enough to say them. He thinks pretty hard about it for a few moments.

"Lufffy... wants me to come with him." Chopper wishes he could frame it better, or say it in a voice that doesn't sound so small and sleepy, but it's the most he can do right now. Doctorine snorts and hands him another stack of papers, thinner this time.

"Oh does he? Why? What do you even know about him?"

"He's Mr. Dalton's friend," Chopper says, carefully sliding the freshly punched papers over the ring of the binder.

"Hardly a ringing endorsement," Doctorine says dryly. "That man has the knack of picking the absolute worst people to trust. For all you know the brat could be wanting to turn you in and take the money for himself."

"I don't believe that," Chopper murmurs. He can't really explain why, but it's something about Luffy's honesty or that they fought together, or that Luffy really just seems to like him. Doctorine makes an annoyed sort of noise, but doesn't argue. She hands him the last sheaf of papers and he can feel her watching him as he carefully aligns the hole punch.

"Have you ever considered what kind of life you might lead if you go with him?" she says. "If he's really looking for the truth of the world, than it's going to be more dangerous than you imagine. Those men you fought today are nothing compared to what you're going to be up against."

That makes him bristle a little. He hadn't thought it would be so dangerous. But strangely he's not all that worried about it. Yeah it might be scary and he doesn't know if he can handle guys that dangerous, at least not right now. But he can get stronger! Maybe Luffy can even teach him a few things! Chopper snaps the binder rings shut and closes it, holding it against his chest before turning to look up at her. He's finally getting some idea what to tell her, though he's not sure if it'll work.

"I know you want me to wait until I'm a man...But that could take a long time!" Years even. A lot of them. He's not sure where the barrier is from boy to man but he knows that he has to be at least sixteen or seventeen.

"That's generally how it goes," Doctorine says and Chopper nods, squeezing the binder a bit between his fingers.

He could say that those guys... those Officer Agents had been really close! And if it hadn't been for Luffy, they wouldn't have noticed them until it was too late! He could say that they're definitely too much for Doctorine to handle by herself anyway. She only has one rifle, after all. And a doctor shouldn't have to worry about killing people. He could say that he doesn't want to keep on hiding. That he's scared she'll die because of him, like Doctor Hiriluk did. And maybe Chopper might be a good doctor one day if he stays with her and they somehow manage to avoid everyone that's after them... but Doctorine is a good doctor now! And there are probably a lot of people who need her.

But he doesn't want to say any of those things, because he doesn't want her to worry or feel like all her hard work to keep him safe this far wasn't enough. He doesn't want to lie to her, either, but there's another truth too. Something that's only just occurred to him, but is suddenly very special.

"And I don't know if I'll ever meet someone like Luffy again..."

"You're acting like he hung the sun and stars," Doctorine says. "He may be a good kid but--"

"So I'm going to become a man right now and go with him!" Chopper says over her. "And I won't let you stop me!"

"Oh?" Doctorine says, leaning in. Grinning. "And what if I hog tie you and throw you in a closet until they go away?:

"Then as soon as you let me free, I'll run away and find them," Chopper says, and really hopes she doesn't do that. Because he will try and find them but going out alone will be much scarier. He straightens and adds. "I... I'm a man now a...and this is what I've decided!"

"Oh you have, have you," she says, sounding furious. He nods, gripping the binder so hard his fingers have gone numb. "Well do what you want then, Mr. Man," Doctorine snaps, turning from him to take a long drink from her wine bottle. "But don't expect me to be here when you come back."

"I... I won't," Chopper murmurs, feeling a little stung. He's glad that she won't be here. She shouldn't be here. They had come too close to being found in this place. So... so it's good. And even though she's mad at him... he'd rather she be mad than worried so.. so he did a good thing... didn't he?

Chopper isn't sure. And he isn't sure he'll ever really know. But right now he can't think of anything to do or say to make it better, and he's tired. The events of the past few days are catching up with him in a big way. Still he takes the binder and slots it into an empty spot on the shelf, resting his forehead against it for a moment as he realizes there's one last thing he has to say.

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

"Thank you for...taking really good care of me and teaching me." And then. "I'll... miss you."

"Go on," Doctorine says in a rough voice. Chopper flinches and nods, leaving the room and pulling the door shut behind him. He wants to sleep. Needs to sleep. But Nami is still in his bed and the closet nest feels lonely without Lapu there. But then he remembers the hammock. Could Luffy still really be out there? Could he really still be waiting?

Chopper drags himself outside and across the lawn to where the hammock is strung peacefully in the moonlight. He can still see the shape of someone in it, which is a relief, but he doesn't want to wake him up either. Chopper stands there a moment, sad and uncertain, before tentatively poking the side.

"I'm back. Can I come in?"

"Sure," Luffy says, sitting up. "Come on."

Chopper manages to get in on his own this time, rolling next to Luffy and making the hammock swing. It's warm. Comfortable. And even though his heart hurts and his shoulders feel heavy, Chopper has no problems falling asleep.

—

It’s morning. Almost afternoon. Bright sun is shining in the window. Chopper stuffs his clothes into the suitcase, belly full of a better breakfast even than he had yesterday. Lapu is watching him from the bed as she chews on one of her ears. She's as anxious as he is, only he wishes he didn't feel this way. He really shouldn't! It's a beautiful day and soon he will be on the road to an adventure and he did a good job yesterday! But...

But all he can think is that he didn't see Doctorine anywhere this morning. There had been faint smells of her around the house, but she'd never come to breakfast. When he'd asked anyone if they'd seen her they'd just shrugged, and Mr. Dalton had given him a kind of sad smile which had annoyed Chopper more than lifted his spirits. But that is okay. Mr. Dalton can't help being who he is.

Chopper tries not to worry and tosses some books into the suitcase too. Medical tomes. Some blank notebooks. A Superman comic that he 'd found under the bed at a Super 8. Extra medical supplies. And, after a moment of thought, even more bandages. He already had another smaller suitcase full of medical supplies, filched from Doctorine's stores. She isn't going to be too happy about that probably, but Chopper wants to be prepared to help them out should the need arise.

He squeezes one last bandage in the corner between a pair of fluffy socks and wipes his forehead, then tries to close the suitcase. It's almost full to bursting and if he can get it down just a little more, he can zip it up. But he doesn't seem to be heavy enough. Chopper frowns at it for a second, then gets an idea.

“Lapu, can you sit on this?”

She nods and hops down, squashing the suitcase shut. Even so the zipping is pretty tough but with a lot of work and a little sweat, he manages it. When he is done, the suitcase seems to tremble a little but doesn’t burst open so he’s pleased with that. Though...it seems weird for the suitcase to be closed and to know all his clothes are in there. Chopper looks around the room. It isn’t exactly bare. There are some things he can’t take because they’re too big. Still, it seems so empty.

But... but that's okay. It'll all turn out alright, right? Right. He looks back at Lapu who is watching him, her claws flexing on the suitcase, one ear drooping. She twitches her nose a little at his attention and grabs her foot like she wants to chew on it, but instead rubs her chin over the top, caught somewhere between kit and adolescent.

“Don't worry,” Chopper says, petting between her ears and giving them loving scratches. "You'll have a great adventure, you'll see."

“Growf,” she says, looking at him. Looking down. An agreement. More or less. But also something more.

“Are you worried about me too?”

“Growf growf.”

Poor Lapu. He considers for a moment, then gently lowers her foot and gives her a hug around the neck. It’s a human gesture though he knows she understands it, even as he’s a little surprised that she hugs him back. It is warm. Chopper almost wishes she could come with them. But she is a kit after all and should be with her family. It’s a dangerous world out there for a lapin.

Before they pull away, Lapu sniffs at his neck, just under his jaw, then pulls away and flicks her ears back.

‘Will remember,’ she says. Then, twitching her ears: ‘Brother?’

“Brother,” he says, resting his chin on her head to show that he was the stronger one, to make her feel safe and protected, all the while feeling warm inside. He will miss her a lot. He will miss exploring with her and cuddling with her on stormy nights in blanket nests… But... but this doesn't have to be goodbye- goodbye, does it?

"It's okay!” he says with a nod, then leans away before he starts crying and gets tears and snot in her fur. “We’ll meet up again one day!”

She gives him a happy lapin chirp, bumping him a bit too hard in the face with her nose so he staggers. But it doesn’t hurt. He tries to smile as hard as he can so he won't do anything else. From outside comes a rolling lapin growl as one of the others calls for Lapu, telling her to come out. She perks her ears and then gives Chopper a questioning glance.

"You can go ahead," Chopper says. "I'll be out in a second."

He has one more thing to do first. Lapu nods and picks up both bulging suitcases under her big furry arms before bounding out of the room. Chopper watches her go with a little smile. She's getting so big and strong!

“You about ready?” Sanji calls into the house.

“Yeah! Almost!” Chopper calls back. Then he takes a deep breath and heads to the apothecary room. The door is open a little and for a brief happy second, he wonders if Doctorine has come back! But when he slams open the door to smile at her, finds no one is there. He sighs, the happiness seeping from him like air from an untied balloon. The room seems even lonelier now. Even bigger though nothing has been moved out of it, except maybe Doctor Hiriluk's original files. Doctorine must have put them away somewhere. He takes in the dark shelves. The table. The smudge of blood on the floor they never quite got out. This will be the last time he'll ever see it.

He sniffs, blinking back the tears before they can form, and sets his backpack on the table, unzipping it and carefully pulling out the cherry wood case. Aside from his hat, this vial of sakura water is the only precious thing Chopper has. He's not sure if it will lift Doctorine's spirit to have it or not, but at least she will keep it. And maybe remember Chopper fondly from time to time. There's a note to go along with it and Chopper is unsure of adding it at first, instead opening the lined paper, smoothing it between his fingers and reads it over.

Dear, Doctorine

Sorry we had a fight. I think I am still a little kid and not a man, because all I want to do is say sorry. But I'm not sorry except that I didn't mean to hurt you if I did. You are really great and I hope you can find somewhere to be free and happy. Please don't be mad at me for very long.

Love, Chopper.

He's not sure if it's good or not. But... maybe it's something she should have. Chopper tucks the note into the box so that it won't be blown away somehow, then shoulders his backpack, lifts his head, and walks out of the empty house; which is silent except for the thud of his sneakers.

Once outside, Chopper blinks a little in the sunlight and can't help but smile at the warm pretty day and deep blue sky. It's still kind of hot but there's a cool, intermittent wind, blowing from the East which makes the day pleasant rather than stifling. Chopper lifts his head a little to it, taking in the smell of deep drowsy woods, foraging animals and the faintest hint of sakura. That's strange... Where can that smell be coming from?

"Well it looks like you're all ready to go," Mr. Dalton says, distracting him. He's standing not a few feet away, leaning heavily on his crutches as Karoo perches on his shoulder. The duck looks all ready to go too. He has his little hat and barrel as well as little goggles and is sticking out his clawed foot so that Sanji can tie a note to it.

“Are you going somewhere?” Chopper says, surprised.

“Not me, this guy,” Sanji says, tying the note in place with a little strip of leather. Well Chopper hadn’t been talking to him but…

‘I must inform my Mistress of Miss Nami’s recovery,’ Karoo says, saluting him, and then gives a kind of ducky smile. ‘I’m relieved you’re going with them. Take care of them, will you?’

“Mm hm." Though why Karoo is relieved, Chopper can't understand. Maybe Karoo thinks he's some kind of fighter or something? Well it's not really important.

‘I’m off!’ Karoo says with a sweep of his wing. ‘Farewell!’

“Fly safe!” Chopper calls as Karoo launches off Mr. Dalton’s arm and flaps his way up into the blue. Another one gone. Chopper will kind of miss him too. Or at least miss knowing more about him.

He looks back down to see Mr. Dalton squint smiling down at him in the sun. He seems to be kind of happy for some reason. It’s a really strange look for him.

“See you around out there,” Mr. Dalton says, patting the top of his hat.

“You be careful too,” Chopper says. He’s still messed up after all. Mr. Dalton shakes his head, letting out a breath of a laugh and moves so that for a moment Chopper thinks he’s going to hug him. But in the end he just pats his hat again. Chopper wonders if they can actually be friends one day. Or if Mr. Dalton will always feel bad for what happened back then. He wants to say it's okay and that he forgives him but he doesn't really. Not yet. Even if he still likes Mr. Dalton in spite of it.

Chopper gives him one last smile, then turns to the van, where Sanji is waiting, and Luffy too, perching on the top, legs folded. Chopper goes toward them one step at a time, feeling as if something is falling away. It's a good feeling, but a scary one. He's excited but also feels much smaller or that the world is much bigger. Lapu growfs and waves a goodbye. Several other lapin do too and Chopper waves back, trying not to tear up again.

(frozen) (no subject)

[theremedy]

He stops at the entrance to the van, gripping the straps of his backpack and taking one last look at the house and Mr. Dalton standing in front of it like a final goodbye. Mr. Dalton raises his hand in farewell. Chopper raises his hand back, a lump forming in his throat. This is it. Everything in his old life is going to go away for good. Or for a very long time at least. But he can do this, he's strong.

“By the way, Sanji,” Luffy says from above. “Whose going to drive?” Which seems like a perfectly reasonable question, so Chopper is not sure why Sanji freezes like that, before bonking his hand against his forehead.

“Shit. Forgot about that.”

"You can't drive?" Mr. Dalton asks, looking between them. "Neither of you?"

"Sanji sure can't!" Luffy says before busting up laughing. Sanji scowls and throws a spent match at him which bounces off his head.

"Shut up, you asshole! I'd like to see you shitty try!"

"Okay!" Luffy says brightly.

"No!" Nami calls from the van, sounding surprisingly strong. Had she really recovered so well so fast?

"Yeah, no," Sanji says, waving his arms. "Absoshittylutely not."

"Awww," Luffy says, pouting. Chopper would have let him drive! If... if it had been up to him that was. But aside from that, what did Sanji just say? Did he just really stick a shitty in there like that without even tripping up on it? How cool! Chopper wonders if he can do it too.

"Abso..." Chopper tries. "Absoluutylitly!" No that isn't quite right.

"Just how old are you kids anyway?" Mr. Dalton asks. Sanji hesitates and Mr. Dalton raises his hands. "No, forget I asked."

He sighs and centers himself on his crutches before thump-bumping over to them. "I've been meaning to go to Las Vegas anyway," he mutters, as he passes Chopper going toward the driver's side.

“Let's go!” Luffy says, clapping the top of the van with his feet. "You wanna sit up here with me, Chopper?"

"Abshiltyootly!" Still not right. But... wait a second. "Aren't we going to draw attention up there?" The whole point of using the van is to be sneaky, isn't it?

"It's just for a little bit," he says.

“Oh… okay! Just a second.” Before he can go anywhere, he peeks into the van where Nami is resting on her pile of blankets, hand to her head. He checked her over this morning before they transported her but it didn’t hurt to double check.

“You feeling okay?” he asks.

“Just fine,” she says, giving him a weak thumbs up. “Go on.”

Chopper nods and gets in the van, standing on the lip to try to reach the roof. He can’t quite touch it and he's kind of afraid to jump, but Luffy reaches down and pulls him up. Chopper clambers on his hands and knees and then, very carefully, stands. Woah! It's so weird to be so high up! The lapin are watching him, ears perked. And it's weird to be taller than them too. He wonders where Fufu is...

The van starts up. Chopper yelps at the unexpected vibrations through his feet and sits down hard, nearly sliding off but is saved by Luffy grabbing the back of his shirt and hauling him back up again.

"Thanks!" Chopper says.

“Yup!” Luffy says. “Hey, maybe Zoro will let us ride on top of his car!”

"Absoshufflytly!" That isn't even close. "Whose Zoro?"

"He's my swordsman! I also have a sniper and a princess! And a you!"

"And a me!" Chopper says happily, his cheek singeing red. Ahh! He wants to meet the sniper and princess and swordsman! Are they all pirates too? He wants to ask, but then the van begins to drive and Chopper has to readjust his seat and realizes with a start the house is getting further and further away. Why is he sad about it? Well he can't help but be a little. At least the lapin stick with him, bounding along behind like they are coming to see them off and Chopper can’t help but watch them.

Goodbye, he tells them in his head.

Goodbye, he tells Doctorine too.

And then, he does something he's never done, even back then. Chopper closes his eyes and tries to remember the way Sakura Mountain looked. Tries to remember the tree and the single headstone under it. In his imagination, it was sunlit and pretty, but back then it had been the blue-grey of pre-dawn as they had had to get out and quickly. Chopper hadn't said anything then. He hadn't wanted to. He'd been so mad that he couldn't even change out of reindeer form. It was easier not to speak that way. It was easier just to be an animal that way.

But now... now he can...

Good

“Chopper, hey! Look! Look!” Luffy says, excited.

Chopper opens his eyes and blinks as a maple leaf swirls past, sakura pink. What— His eyes open fully and then widen. Pink trees line either side of the road, their leaves ruffling in the wind. Maple. Oak. Pine. All pink and happy.

It’s! It’s--!

It’s so beautiful!

Below the trees are the rest of the Lapin, all pink pawed, waving at him. Fufu too, waving both paws at him. And then, most startling of all, Doctorine. She is standing under the biggest tree, pink branches spreading wide and beautiful. Even her white hair looks pinkish. Chopper's eyes swim as he watches her, as he watches all of them. He waves back with one hand, then both hands. He wants to jump! He wants to fly!

“Doctorine!” He calls, lurching toward her and nearly falling except for Luffy’s hand around his waist. “Doctorine!” He wants to say everything he said in his note. Thank you. I’ll miss you. But all he can say is her name.

She flaps a hand as if to shoo him. But then as they get further down the road and the trees fade to green again, she steps into the middle of the road with the lapin, Fufu and Lapu beside her, and lifts her hand goodbye. Her palm is pink. He is crying now. Tears and snot everywhere, but he can't help it! There's too many feelings to know what to do with! Because he wants to laugh too! He wants to laugh and cry all at once.

Instead he just watches his friends and the sakura forest fade further and further into the distance. He wants to watch it forever! Them forever! But slowly they go around a bend in the road and the trees close so he can only see the faintest glimmer of pink between the gaps. And after a while not even that.

Soon the van creeps to a stop and Sanji opens the passenger side door.

"We're going to hit a shitty main road soon, so better get in," he says. Chopper doesn't want to go in. Even Luffy is reluctant but then he smiles and shrugs.

"Come on."

"Okay," Chopper says.

Luffy slides off the van first and Chopper is a little hesitant at first and slides off backwards, wiggling his feet in the air and trying to find ground before Luffy reaches up and helps him the rest of the way. Then they clamber inside. There are two rows of seats. Two in the front and a bench seat behind that. On the bench seat, there is a weird brown package.

"What's this?" he asks, picking it up and turning it over. Luffy flops beside him and grins hugely.

"Open it and find out!"

Chopper takes a moment to admire how neatly it's wrapped before peeling back the tape, and seeing the hint of a binder. Chopper rips off the rest of the paper and stares at it. It's definitely one of Doctorine's! He opens the binder and immediately smells the faint hint of sakura, mixing a little with plum. It's Doctor Hiriluk's notes! Not photocopied or anything!

Another piece of paper has been stuck in the clear plastic file holder on the binder's cover and Chopper takes it out and opens it, nose filling again as he reads it.

 

Chopper,

Here are the old fool's notes as well as some of my own. Never forget you're entering into a dangerous world that will not be kind to you.

At least you seem to have good friends by your side, which counts for something, I suppose. Don't let the words of an even older fool bother you. Man or no, you are a fine doctor now and will be an even better one in the future.

'Doctorine'

P.S. Keep your feet dry and don't catch a cold.

And he is crying again. Sort of. He can feel the tears running down his face but his heart feels full of light.

"Haha Well are you happy?" Luffy asks. "Are you ready for adventure?"

Chopper grins back, tucking the note back in place and hugging the binder to him.

"Absoshittylutely."