Y/N and Tony Tony Chopper:

-x-

"Winter swimming?" Usopp repeated. He and Vivi had barely managed to survive the avalanche and had run into Zoro who had been buried under the snow after getting lost during a mid-winter swim. The swelling on Usopp's face had finally gone down and his shocked facial expression could be seen clearly as he and Vivi listened to the shirtless and shoeless swordsman's explanation about what he was doing out in the middle of nowhere buried under a blanket of snow.

"That was the idea anyway," Zoro replied. "But after swimming in the river for a while I had no idea where I was anymore. I started walking around and some strength training workouts."

"Dressed like that in cold weather?" Usopp inquired. There were pink patches all over Zoro's bare torso and arms due to the harsh cold on the winter island. "You're real stupid aren't you?"

"That isn't the point!" Zoro snapped. "Now just shut up and gimme your coat?"

"Not a chance," Usopp promptly refused. He wasn't about to give up his only protection against the harsh cold just because Zoro got lost during his idiotic training session.

"Maybe Nami's sick from the mental exhaustion of dealing with these two," Vivi thought to herself as she walked silently along beside Zoro and Usopp.

"Then how 'bout your shoes?" Zoro requested.

"Nope!" Usopp answered.

"Just one then!" Zoro exclaimed.

"I said no!" Usopp insisted. "You brought this on yourself."

The trio reached the crest of a snowy hill and Vivi spotted a cluster of people off in a distance. "Look at that guys," Vivi pointed out to the two bickering pirates. "There's people over there."

Two groups of people were standing on a fresh blanket of snow. One group was made up of uniformed soldiers with weapons while the other group was civilians. As they walked closer, the buildings seemed familiar to Usopp.

"Hey, those buildings seem familiar," Usopp commented.

Vivi took a good look at the half buried village and the familiar houses, "You're right Usopp," Vivi realized. "This place is Big Horn. We just came back. It looks a lot different buried in snow though."

"STAY BACK, ALL OF YOU!" a uniformed solider ordered the group of civilians as he held his sword out in front of him. "Dalton's already dead anyway."

"It'd take more than a couple of flimsy arrows to kill him!" one of the civilians objected. "You're his men, or you used to be at least, don't you care at all about what happens to Dalton?"

"Things have changed!" the lead solider retorted. "We're all King Wapol's soldiers now. Any one of you who opposes King Wapol is as good as dead!"

"Hey, what's going on here?" Zoro asked one of the civilians in the back as he, Usopp, and Vivi walked over.

"What's going on here?" the civilian repeated, he turned around and stared in surprise at how Zoro was dressed. "Wait, what's going on with you? Why are you dressed like that?"

"Dalton is buried under the snow that came down with the avalanche," another civilian explained to Usopp and Vivi.

"What? Dalton's buried under that?" questioned Vivi as she stared at the deep blanket of snow that was nearly burying the houses.

"That's right," said the other civilian. "And we can't get over there to dig him out because those guys are blocking us!"

"For the last time!" the lead soldier called out. "STAY BACK! But if you really want to dig your friend up, I guess you could try fighting us all! Hahahahaha!"

"Hey Usopp," said Zoro, as he stared at the soldiers. "I think I remember that clothing. Those are the same guys that attacked our ship while we were out in the ocean, right?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Usopp realized.

"Then they're the enemy," Zoro stated, "Bad guys. Not our friends. Follow me?"

"Yeah but..." Usopp replied but then he saw the determined look on Zoro's face. "Wait a second, I know that look!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" the lead soldier laughed. "You aren't so brave without Dalton around! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

KA-WHAM! Zoro flew in and attacked the lead soldier, he was out like a light and went down like a ton of bricks.

"NO! ZORO!" Vivi exclaimed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Stop you fool!" a villager called out, "Nothing good will come from attacking them!"

"AAAAAAHHH!" Zoro sighed as he pulled the lead soldiers coat closed around him. "This is so warm! I really like this thing!"

"YOU JUST WANTED HIS COAT?" Usopp shrieked as the other soldiers gathered around Zoro and looked to attack. "LOOK OUT ZORO!"

"I know you!" one of the soldiers realized as he stared at Zoro. "You were on that ship with that guy who beat up King Wapol!"

"That's right," Zoro replied as he faced the soldiers. "You're a little slow, aren't you?"

"RAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The sword and gun wielding soldiers shouted as they charged at Zoro, SWISH! Zoro ran through the crowd of soldiers and came safely out the other side. Three of the soldiers flexed their empty hands in confusion.

"Are you looking for something?" Zoro taunted, before he turned around and showed off the three swords that he'd taken from three of the soldiers. "Maybe these?" Zoro put one sword in his mouth and held the other two in his hands as he got in his Santōryū stance.

"GRRR... LET'S GET THAT GUY!" one of the soldiers shouted, they charged at Zoro.

"Nez-Palm... CANNON!" small projectile came from behind Zoro and impacted with the ground in front of the soldiers. KA-BOOOOM! The small snot-bomb exploded and made black cloud of smoke as Mr. 5 walked up with his hands in his pockets and then stood beside Zoro.

"We got bored," he said with casual shrug. Ms. Goldenweek was hanging back and was still dressed in Zoro's long light blue winter coat. It dragged behind her as she walked creating a trench in the snow that marked her path.

"I'm not gonna share this fight if you use those snot bombs of yours," Zoro warned Mr. 5. "That's just gross."

"Fine then," Mr. 5 agreed as he pulled up the sleeves of his coat revealing his bare arms. "This should be easy considering they're not freakishly resilient like you Straw Hats."

Zoro and Mr. 5 charged at the group of soldiers. SLISH! SLISH! SLOSH! Zoro slashed at the uniformed men with his three acquired swords while Mr. 5 exploded on contact. KA-BOOOM! KA-BOOOOM!

"HAWK WAVE!" Zoro shouted as he charged through the crowd and slashed two of his swords, SLISH! SLASH! Seven soldiers went flying and crashed to the ground bloody and unconscious.

"BREEZE BREATH BOMB!" Mr. 5 simply breathed on a group of soldiers and his breath combusted. KA-BOOOOM! The explosion blasted the five soldiers backwards and sent them crashing down to the ground in a charred heap.

BOOOOM! SLISH! THUD! THUD!

When the smoke finally cleared and the last of the soldiers hit the ground, Zoro and Mr. 5 were left standing over the unmoving men.

"What a shame," Zoro taunted, "Already over?" SHUNK! Zoro tossed down the three swords and they imbedded in the ground beside him.

"After fighting you Straw Hats, that was just disappointing," Mr. 5 remarked. "It was barely a workout." He calmly pulled down the sleeves of his coat.

The civilians all stared at the two men in shock, they'd taken down a squad of two dozen men like it was nothing. While one seemingly had Devil Fruit Powers, the other had just hacked away using the swords he'd taken.

"Amazing," Vivi though to herself, it was a relief that Mr. 5 was on their side now.

"GREAT JOB GUYS!" Usopp called out. "JUST LIKE I TOLD YOU TO! YEAH!"

"Great, now we can go over there and look for Dalton!" one of the civilians realized. The villagers grabbed shovels and began to frantically dig for Dalton's body. A few of them thanked Zoro and Mr. 5 as they ran passed, Zoro brushed it off, but the Baroque Works Officer Agent seemed surprised that he was being thanked for blowing something up.

Usopp ran up to them,. "What's got everyone so worked up?" Zoro asked.

"I'll explain it all to you later," Usopp replied, "for now let's just give 'em a hand." Usopp ran off and joined the villagers in excavating the snow in search of Dalton.

-x-

Y/N woke up and found himself in a strange room in Drum Castle. He sat up and took in his surroundings, he was on a bunk-like bed, so he assumed the room had been some kind of barracks in the past. Luffy and Sanji were sleeping in another pair of beds and were covered in bandages.

Y/N got out of bed and noticed that his arms, feet, and his stomach were all wrapped in bandages. Y/N spotted his boots near Luffy's bunk and quickly slipped them on, he took his sunglasses off of a table and put them in his pocket then pulled the door opened and stared out at a snow filled castle. There were numerous floors with snow-covered landings, as well as a large column in the middle with a spiral staircase going up it.

Y/N walked down a snow-filled hallway and spotted another hallway. It was cleared of snow and looked like it led to a medical ward of some kind. He walked down the snow-less hallway and eventually his sharp ears picked up voices through one of the doors.

"Doctorine, the anti-bodies seem to be responding," a high-pitched voice reported.

"Yes, as I guessed they would," the familiar voice of the witch-doctor's replied.

Knock! Knock! Y/N rapped on the door and slowly pushed it opened. KRASH! Something broke inside and Y/N was greeted by the sight of the doctor yelling at... a raccoon? "DAMN IT CHOPPER, BE CAREFUL!"

"Chopper?" Y/N repeated, recognizing the name. He turned and stared at the raccoon, it was about the size of a child and was wearing a familiar pink top hat with a white x on the front, only now, the hat appeared to be much bigger on the brown-furred creature and a pair of antlers and deer-like ears poking out from the sides. "You're that monster from earlier. Hi."

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO GREET A MONSTER!" Chopper shouted.

"You talk?" Y/N said in surprise. "Cool." KRASH! THA-THUD! Chopper fell over in surprise and knocked over a chair and stack of books.

Y/N shrugged and turned to the old woman that he assumed was Dr. Kureha. "I saw two of my friends in the room I woke up in but I knew they'd be fine. Where are the other two?"

"I was just going over that with my assistant," Dr. Kureha informed him. "You got them to me just in time and my treatment is working. Chopper, did you figure out what made them sick?"

"A k-keschia," Chopper stammered, still attempting to hide from Y/N.

"That's correct," Dr. Kureha commented. "It's a poisonous tick that was supposed to have died out a hundred years ago. You're lucky that I still have my cure."

"We came from an island called Little Garden," Y/N explained, "It was a prehistoric jungle. Both of them must've gotten bitten at one point while we were there."

"Well rest assured, they'll be fine now," Dr. Kureha told him. "Your friend in the vest had a severe case of frostbite and appeared to be suffering from a case of exhaustion. I gave him the treatment and bandaged him up. He just needs some rest. Your other friend had six broken ribs and a cracked spine. I reset them and bandaged them. And finally you... you had a case of frostbite on your arms and your feet, as you probably noticed, I took care of it. Three of your ribs were healing incorrectly from an injury caused by a blunt force of some kind, I reset those for you. And you also seem to be suffering from exhaustion and a few days without sleep. If you get some rest and don't do anything strenuous, you'll be fine. Well... are you happy?"

"Ecstatic," Y/N stated calmly.

"Now... about your bill," Dr. Kureha said, "I assume you're some kind of pirate, so I'll take all the treasure on your ship as payment."

"I have a counter-offer for you," Y/N proposed. "On my way in here I noticed that the castle was filled with snow and that a lot of the doors are frozen shut. With more space, you'd be much more efficient and could make more money in the long run. I'll use some of my skills to get those doors opened, and for every door that I do, you take ten percent off of your bill. One door, it goes down to only ninety percent of my treasure. Two doors, eighty percent. Ten doors, no charge."

"Ten new rooms in exchange for free services on five people," Dr. Kureha reasoned to herself, she eventually nodded in agreement, "Alright, as long as you don't take anything that's inside the rooms. If it was in this castle before you got here, it's my property."

"Agreed," Y/N agreed as he held out his hand, Dr. Kureha nodded and shook it. "'One Eye' Y/N Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire, at your service."

"Chopper, take him to see the other two," Dr. Kureha instructed, "Then make sure he gets to work." Chopper nervously came out from under the deck and stared at Y/N, then headed for the door. Y/N turned and followed him out of the room and into the snow-filled hallway.

"Not to be rude, but what are you exactly?" Y/N inquired as he followed Chopper down the hallway. "Before you looked like some kind of yeti, now you look like a raccoon."

"I'm not a yeti or a raccoon!" Chopper snapped. "I'm a reindeer!"

"You don't look like any reindeer I've ever seen," Y/N stated. Then before his eyes, Chopper transformed from the child-size raccoon-like creature to the blue-nosed four legged reindeer that had accompanied Dr. Kureha into Cocoaweed. "You're a..."

"I know, I'm a monster!" Chopper interrupted. "I'm not a reindeer and I'm not a human. I'm just a monster."

"That wasn't what I was going to say," Y/N corrected him. "You're a Zoan."

"A what?" Chopper asked.

"A Zoan is one of the three classifications of Devil Fruit," Y/N explained. "They typically allow a person to transform into an animal." Y/N took a good look at Chopper, who was still in his reindeer form. "You however, were originally an animal that ate a Zoan-type Devil Fruit... so it worked in reverse and you to become a human."

"That's right," Chopper replied, "I ate the Human Human Fruit. I can do anything a human can. I just don't look much like one."

"Interesting," Y/N remarked.

"Aren't you... scared of me?" Chopper asked.

"Hah-ha, boy are you barking up the wrong tree," Y/N chuckled. "I'm a pirate. I've seen a lot of weird stuff. But it doesn't scare me, it intrigues me. There's nothing I like better than discovering the strange things that exist in this world. I don't think you're scary, I think you're interesting."

"You think I'm... interesting?" Chopper repeated, clearly surprised by the fact that this pirate was interested in him. "So this is a pirate. Amazing!"

Y/N smiled, "If you wanna hear about a really weird Devil Fruit Power, I once knew this someone who ate a Zoan Devil Fruit that allowed him to transform into a phoenix."

"What does that do?" Chopper asked, he stopped in front of a doorway.

"He could turn into a big firebird," Y/N explained. "And not only could he fly but when he transformed he was covered in these blue and orange flames and whenever he got hurt, he could just heal himself with fire."

"WOOOOOWWW!" Chopper exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"Why did we stop here?" questioned Y/N, "are they in that room?"

"Oh, yeah," Chopper answered, pirates were just as amazing as he'd heard. This one had seen the world and had done the impossible when he climbed up the side of the mountain. On top of all that, he didn't think Chopper was a monster.

Chopper transformed into his raccoon-like form and pushed the door opened and led Y/N into the room that Nami and Ms. Valentine were in. The two were sleeping in a pair of beds that were across the room from each other. Y/N crossed the room and walked over to Nami's bed, he lightly placed a hand on her forehead and was pleased that it wasn't as hot as it had been over the last few days.

"Her temperature's dropped down to one hundred degrees," Chopper informed him. "Doctorine's treatment is very effective. If she gets plenty of rest and takes her medicine, she should be completely recovered in three days."

"That's the best news I've heard in a long time," Y/N commented, he smiled down at the sleeping girl. "Hear that Nami? I got you up the mountain like I promised, and you're gonna be fine. You'll be completely cured in three days."

Y/N turned to Chopper and knelt down so they were at relatively the same height, then slowly reached out and put one of his hands on the child-sized reindeer's shoulder. Chopper was unsettled by the unexpected contact and attempted to jump away, but Y/N used surprising strength to hold him where he was.

"Thank you," Y/N said as he looked Chopper in the eyes, "Over the last few days I had to watch as her condition just got worse and worse. Nothing I did was helping. You and the doctor did what I couldn't, you saved her. I don't know what I would've done if she had died. I owe you a lot, thank you." With Y/N holding him in place, Chopper was left standing there with a sheepish smile and a huge blush that somehow showed through his fur.

"I-I don't need your thanks!" Chopper chirped happily while doing a dance, "You jerk!"

Y/N smiled and stood up, "I'll assume the other one is fine too then?"

"Yeah, they'll both be fine," Chopper assured him.

"I'm gonna get to work on the doors," Y/N decided. "Wanna help me pick which one to start on?"

"Um... okay," Chopper agreed, the two of them left the room but found Dr. Kureha standing out in the hallway.

"Oh, don't mind me," said the old woman. "I was just coming to see if you hadn't scared my reindeer and to make sure you got to work."

"I will," Y/N assured her, he turned to Chopper, "Come on Chopper, pick a room that you've always wanted to see inside of. I'll start on that one."

"Oh, I know one!" Chopper announced with child-like joy. "It's got this big double-door." Dr. Kureha watched with a smile as Chopper walked off with the pirate, something told her that her assistant's life was about to change forever.

-x-

Y/N and Chopper stood in front of a large set of double doors, they were covered in ice and snow and were frozen shut. Y/N reached into his top right pocket and pulled out an Explosion Ball.

"What's that?" asked Chopper as he stared at the small red ball.

"It's an explosive that I'm gonna use to melt some of the ice and snow," Y/N explained.

"Definitely not a Rumble Ball," Chopper thought to himself.

"Watch out," said Y/N as he stepped in front of Chopper... almost protectively, and threw the red ball at the ground in front of the door. KA-BOOOM! The Explosion Ball exploded and the flames melted the snow and ice that were on the bottom half of the door. When the flames from the explosion finally went out, the only ice left on the door was at the very top. Y/N grabbed the door and tried the handle, but it appeared to be locked.

Y/N grinned and reached into his top left pocket and pulled out black wallet-like case. He removed one of his lock picks and began working the lock with his tools. CLICK! The lock popped opened and Y/N turned the handle, with one strong pull he broke the ice at the top of the door and pushed it opened. CHUNK! KREEEEK!

Y/N and Chopper walked through the opened door into the room and discovered a MASSIVE kitchen. It was filled with surprisingly advanced appliances and looked like it had enough room to feed the entire island. Since the door was sealed and locked, there was no snow in the large kitchen, that left it remarkably clean.

"Whoever lived in this castle must've loved to eat," Y/N remarked. "I'm not sure if any of the leftover food is any good but the appliances could be useful."

"Doctorine likes her drinks to be cold," Chopper told him as he pointed to a refrigerator that was twenty feet high and had a ladder next to it, "we could keep them in that."

"I guess that works," Y/N commented, "let's find another door to open." Chopper smiled and led Y/N out of the kitchen and back out into the hallway.

-x-

"DOCTORINE! DOCTORINE!" Chopper shouted as he came racing into the office that Dr. Kureha was currently sitting in holding a large bundle of papers. "You won't believe what we found!"

"Oh?" Dr. Kureha asked. "Did that pirate find Wapol's vault?"

"Um, actually yes," Chopper admitted, "he said there was over five hundred million berries in there! But that's not all! We also found a dungeon, a bedroom for some guy named Chess, a huge kitchen, and the Twenty MD's Lab! For some reason they kept it separate from the medical ward! But Y/N found it and unlocked the door! It's still stocked with a lot of their medical supplies and some of their research was left behind too! Look!" Chopper pulled a blue backpack off of his back and showed Dr. Kureha the large bundle of papers he had stuffed inside on top of his medical supplies.

"Remember what I told you about using research from other people," Dr. Kureha lectured her assistant.

"Use it as a guide but come to your own conclusion," Chopper recited.

"Put those somewhere that they can be of use to you," Dr. Kureha advised, "then go check on the patients." Chopper nodded and ran out of the room to do his medical duties.

Dr. Kureha gripped the handle of a scalpel and stabbed it into a workbench. SHUNK! "That boy had better not hurt my reindeer," she growled to herself.

-x-

Awakening

-x-

TMPTMPTMP! Nami was woken by the sound of footsteps, she opened her eyes and found herself in a bed in a strange room. She glanced around the room and saw Ms. Valentine in the bed on the other side of the room. There was a fireplace at the foot of her bed, a large bookshelf, and a deck. Nami's eye widened when she realized that something was compounding medicine on the desk. TMP! The bizarre-looking creature jumped off of the chair and Nami decided to make her presence known.

"Hello?" Nami greeted it as she sat up.

WHAM! Chopper jumped backwards and slammed into the chair, the chair slammed into the desk and some books fell off of it and landed on the floor. THUD! THUD!

The loud noise woke Ms. Valentine, who sat up and glanced curiously around the room. She spotted the small brown-furred creature with antlers, hooves, a blue nose, and a pick top hat. Her blue eyes went wide and she squealed, "CUUUUUTEEE!"

"EEEEEK!" Chopper shrieked and ran around a corner and ducked behind a wall. He peeked around it at the two wide awake women. The only problem was, Chopper was peeking backwards, most of his body was visible instead of behind the wall. Nami and Ms. Valentine both sweat-dropped.

"Um... I think you've got it backwards," Nami called out to Chopper, "the hiding thing, I mean." Chopper's eyes went wide and he corrected himself. Now he was hiding behind the wall and peeked out the correct way.

"Well that is better," Nami commented, "but it's a little too late at this point. And I can still see you."

Chopper glared at her and shouted, "SHUT UP LADY!" Nami and Ms. Valentine stared in wide-eyed surprise. "And... can you tell me how your fever's doing?"

"IT'S TALKING!" Ms. Valentine shrieked.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Chopper screamed, launched backwards and slammed into something on the other side of the attached room he was hiding in. KRASH! Something else fell over because of the crash, THUD! And something glass fell and shattered, KRESH!

"KEEP IT DOWN CHOPPER!" Dr. Kureha hollered.

"Heeheehee," Dr. Kureha cackled as she walked into the room carrying an opened bottle of rum. "Your fever seems to have gone down a little bit. That's good. You happy?"

Nami and Ms. Valentine stared at the strange old woman in surprise. Dr. Kureha touched a finger to Nami's forehead. "Who are you?" Nami asked.

"Yes, it's gone down several degrees," Dr. Kureha commented as though Nami hadn't spoken. "It should be alright. I'm the only doctor around here, Dr. Kureha, but you can call me Doctorine, okay?"

"Oh, then that means we're on..." Nami realized.

"Looking for how I stay so young?" Dr. Kureha interrupted.

"No, that's not it," Nami answered while Ms. Valentine sweat-dropped.

Dr. Kureha took a swig from her rum bottle, "Anyway, yes you're in the castle on the mountain," Dr. Kureha explained. She walked over to Ms. Valentine and checked her temperature with her finger.

"In that case, there were three others with us, right?" Nami asked.

"Yes, two of them are sleeping in the next room," Dr. Kureha informed her as took a long drink of rum. "The other one is somewhere around the castle working off your payment."

"Working off the payment?" Nami repeated.

"He's helping me get some of the frozen doors opened so I can use more of the castle," Dr. Kureha explained as she sat down on the side of Ms. Valentine's bed and pulled back the sheets revealed the agent that was clad in a set of (Nami's) yellow pajamas, the doctor pulled up Ms .Valentine's shirt to reveal a purple lump halfway up her side.

Ms. Valentine squeaked in surprise as folded her arms across her chest to keep her shirt from going up too high. Nami pushed back the blankets on her own bed, revealing the light blue pajamas that she was wearing, and peeked at the bug bite that Y/N had discovered on her stomach. Like Ms. Valentine's it had gone from pink to purple and had some purple marks around it.

"That's what made you sick," Dr. Kureha told them. "You were both bitten by a bug called a Keschia. It's a poisonous tick that thrives in jungles with high heat and humidity. When it bites you it introduces a type of bacteria into your body. These bacteria ravage the body over the course of five days. It causes a high fever, severe infection, myocarditis, and arthritis. Not pleasant. Given the infection's progression in the infected area I'd guess that you've been infected for about three days now. The pain you've been feeling must have been terrible. But still, it would've eased up in two more days without any treatment at all."

"It would've gone away in two days?" Nami asked.

"Mmhmm," Dr. Kureha replied. "You wouldn't be feeling any pain what-so-ever... because you'd be dead." Nami's eyes went wide in shock.

"Thank you One-Eye," Ms. Valentine whispered, that had been a close call.

"This particular infection is known as the Five Day Disease," Dr. Kureha continued. "I had thought that Keschia had died you a hundred years ago, but your friend informed me that you came from an island with prehistoric jungles on it. You're lucky that I kept the antibiotic just in case." Nami and Ms. Valentine shared a look, both of them remembered moments on Little Garden when they hadn't been wearing much clothing. Nami's shirt had been burned off while escaping from Mr. 3's melting wax sculpture and Ms. Valentine had taken her dress off so she could wash Ms. Goldenweek's paint off of it.

"You two stay in bed," Dr. Kureha instructed as she pushed Ms. Valentine down onto her back. "Your treatment for the disease is not completely finished yet."

"Thank you so much," said Nami, Ms. Valentine nodded in agreement. "I'll be fine as long as my fever goes down. My body will take care of itself after that."

"Well aren't you an optimistic one," Dr. Kureha remarked as she walked over to Nami. "This disease normally takes a course of treatment ten days long to cure. Even with medicines as advanced as mine are, your body will still need at least three days to fully recuperate. If you don't want to risk more suffering and possible death, get some rest."

Ms. Valentine remained lying down, but her eyes went wide in alarm. The Straw Hats didn't have that long. They needed to get to Alabasta. Nami voiced those concerns, "I can't stay here that long!" She exclaimed. "I'm in a hurry to get somewhere!"

SHWUP! Nami suddenly found herself on her back with Dr. Kureha holding a scalpel to her neck, "When a patient leaves this castle it's because she's cured or deceased. Heeheehee! You aren't going anywhere girl!" Nami stiffened and stared up at the witch in terror, Ms. Valentine gaped in shock; that definitely wasn't professional conduct.

-x-

Chopper put some blood-soaked bandages in the sink. He'd just finished changing Luffy and Sanji's bandages and the two pirates were still sleeping. Chopper walked over to Luffy and stared at him, he remembered what Y/N had said earlier.

-Flashback-

"So... who are those other two humans that you came here with?" Chopper asked as Y/N began picking the lock on a frozen door.

"Those two are Sanji and Luffy," Y/N answered. "Sanji, the blonde guy, wants to find a Legendary Ocean called the All Blue, he joined our crew as our cook. He's a real tough guy but is a shameless flirt and a bit of pervert when it comes to women. The other one's our Captain, 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy. I've known him almost my whole life, he wants to become the King of the Pirates. The way to do that is to find the Pirate King's treasure, the One Piece. It's my greatest dream to find that treasure, so Luffy and I agreed that we'd find the One Piece together so we could both live our dreams."

"I have a dream too!" Chopper told him.

Click! The lock popped opened, but Y/N didn't open the door, his attention was entirely on Chopper. "And what's that?"

"I wanna become a doctor that can cure anything," Chopper explained. "I wanna be the miracle cure!"

Y/N smiled, "That's a big dream," he remarked, "but you know... if you want to cure everything you can't stay on this island forever. You'll eventually have to leave so you can see the rest of the world and find cures for some of the other diseases out there."

Chopper looked down, "How old are you?" Y/N asked.

"Fifteen," Chopper answered.

Y/N grinned, "I was fifteen when I left my home village with my big brother."

"Big brother?" Chopper repeated.

"Someone older than you that looks out for you," Y/N explained, "someone who's on your side no matter what, someone who encourages you to be better."

"Don't you have to be related to be brothers?" Chopper inquired.

"Heck no," Y/N told him. "I'm Luffy's big brother and we're not related. When I met him, he was all alone with no friends, just his grandpa. But I was there for him and looked after him. He ate a Devil Fruit and people looked at him like he was some kind of freak but I made sure that he was never alone. I'll sail to the end of the Earth to help my little brother achieve his dream." CHUNK! KREEEK! The ice snapped off of the door as Y/N pushed it opened.

"Who the heck is 'Chess'?" Y/N wondered.

-End Flashback-

"You're like me," Chopper thought as he stared at Luffy. "You ate a Devil Fruit too, but you had a big brother so you weren't alone."

"I'm hungry..." Luffy suddenly mumbled. "So hungry..." Luffy opened his eyes, and spotted a small furry creature standing by his bed. "Need meat..." Drool leaked out of the corner of Luffy's mouth and Chopper jumped back in alarm.

THUD! Chopper slammed into Sanji's bed and the cook suddenly started muttering, "Venison Stew should be simmered in a large pot for three hours until all the meat becomes tender..." Chopper shook in terror and backed away from the now smiling cook.

"Meeeaaaat..." Luffy grumbled as he sat up.

Whap! Sanji reached out and grabbed Chopper's arm, he leaned over and stared down at the strange reindeer. "Venison..."

"YAAAAAHHH!" Chopper screamed, he darted away from Sanji and looked from him to Luffy, who was now drooling buckets. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEEE!"

-x-

In the other room, Nami and Ms. Valentine suddenly sat up in surprise as Chopper ran in with Sanji holding onto one of his arms and Luffy gnawing on the other.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Chopper screamed as he ran through the room and out the door on the other side, dragging the two pirates passed along with him.

Luffy let go of Chopper and ran back over to Nami's bed, "Nami!" he greeted her.

Sanji pranced over, "Miss. Nami! Miss. Valentine! You're alright!" he exclaimed.

"I'm getting there," Nami admitted.

"One tasty venison dinner, coming up!" Sanji announced. He and Luffy spotted Chopper trying to sneak across the room.

Chopper froze and looked behind him at the two pirates that wanted to eat him and took off running again. "COME BACK!" Sanji and Luffy hollered as they ran after Chopper and began chasing him all around the castle.

"I'm impressed, those guys are already up and moving," Dr. Kureha remarked.

"Yeah they are," Nami agreed. "Can you tell me about this talking deer?"

"Figured you'd ask about him," Dr. Kureha remarked.

-x-

As she spoke, Chopper was sprinting down a hallway for dear life. (A/N: I could've made a very bad pun there involving 'dear/deer' but I chose not to.)

"DON'T RUN AWAY, MEAT!" Luffy shouted.

"DON'T EAT IT YET!" Sanji scolded Luffy, "LET ME COOK IT FIRST!"

Y/N suddenly walked out from a doorway on the other end of the hallway. "And that's eight," he said to himself.

"HEEEELLLLP!" Chopper screamed in terror.

Whap! Y/N reached down and caught Chopper as he was going passed him then he ran at the quickly approaching Luffy and Sanji.

"YEAH! RICKY'S GOT THE DEER MEAT!" Luffy cheered. WHAM! He was caught off guard when his larger brother slammed shoulder-first into his stomach. Y/N spun off of Luffy and kept running down the hall while the rubber pirate fell to the ground.

Sanji was momentarily shocked by the First Mate's attack on the Captain but he quickly spun around and chased him. "ONE EYE, DON'T BE STINGY!" Sanji berated him. "THAT'S FOR EVERYONE!"

Sanji caught up with Y/N and then dropped down and slid legs-first looking to clip the one-eyed pirate's legs. SKISH! Y/N jumped up over Sanji causing the cook to go sliding under him, Sanji tried to stop but a patch ice caused him to slam hard into a wall. BOOM!

TMP! Y/N landed safely and kept running down the corridor with Chopper tucked under his arm. Luffy and Sanji pulled themselves up and sprinted after him.

"RICKY! DON'T HOG ALL THE MEAT!" Luffy shouted after him.

-x-

"His name is Chopper," Dr. Kureha continued to tell Nami, "he's just a reindeer with a blue nose. That's all."

"But... normal reindeer don't talk," Ms. Valentine pointed out.

"If he's different than other reindeer in some way..." Dr. Kureha continued.

"If he's different?" Nami repeated.

-x-

"RICKY! I'M THE CAPTAIN, GIMME THAT MEAT!" Luffy ordered.

"HAND OVER THE VENISON AND NO ONE GETS HURT!" Sanji threatened him.

Y/N found himself with nowhere left to run, his back was to an ice covered door and Luffy and Sanji were blocking his only means of exit.

A sly grin broke out on Y/N's face, "You want him?" he inquired. "You got him." He suddenly threw Chopper at the two surprised pirates. "Chopper, transform!" Y/N raced after Chopper as he flew at Luffy and Sanji.

Luffy and Sanji didn't even know what hit them, one second their food was flying towards them and the next it became a huge hulking monster and clubbed them on the head. KER-WHAM! The captain and the cook crashed down to the ground unconscious.

Hitting Luffy and Sanji had launched Chopper back up into the air, he transformed back into his previous form and Y/N caught him as he came down. WHAP!

-x-

"If he's different it's just because he ate the Human Human Fruit," Dr. Kureha continued to explain. "He's still a reindeer, but now he has the abilities of a human, like talking and walking upright. And also he's a doctor. I taught Chopper everything I know in the field of medicine."

-x-

"You... protected me..." Chopper realized when Y/N finally put him down.

"Of course I did," Y/N replied. "You're a transforming reindeer with medical skills and a big dream. Eating you would be a huge waste of your potential."

-x-

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!