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I. The reindeer
There once was a reindeer with a weird blue nose, who ruined everything he touched. No other reindeer wanted him around, sneering at his nose, his voice, the way he would walk. The young reindeer had been cursed, you see, by the woods perhaps, or by the sea…for he could stand like those that killed their kin and paraded their corpses for fun.
“I’m not a monster,” he would sob, but everyone else would still leave him alone, out of fear of him spreading his curse. He wasn’t a normal reindeer, and he wasn’t welcome in their herd. They denied him food, and kicked at his feet, shouted insults, until finally they chased him away. They all cheered as he limped away, never to come back.
There once was a creature without a home, who ruined everything he touched. He cried every night, and every day he would wander around, looking for someone to gift him something warm. Until he came upon those he’d been taught to fear, the ones that could stand on their two legs and made noises he could too.
“Hello, I need help!” he pleaded with them, but they raised their voices and their metal tools, and pointed them at him until he started to bleed. He was a thing unlike them, and they chased him through the night, disrupting its peace. He wanted to shout, he wanted to lie down, but he wanted to live more. And so, he ran.
There was once a monster with no tears left, who trembled and bled all over the white snow. He didn’t want to die, but he did not know how to survive. There was no place for him anywhere, and there was no rest, no warmth and no hope to be had. For he was not a reindeer, nor was he like the creatures that had homes. He was a monster, nothing more.
“I can save you,” said a voice, who looked so much like the ones that had hurt him and not at all. He snarled, and attacked, and raged, and raged, and raged. He was a monster who ruined everything he touched, after all. But the man—a doctor, he’ll come to know—, just waited and reassured him, and almost froze after removing his fur. And finally, the monster had found a home.
There once was a young doctor, not reindeer nor human enough, but definitely, not a monster at all. Who, somehow, still ruined everything he touched… Chopper, as he was now called, fed the doctor a mushroom that stole him of his life. He cried, and cried, but he could not take it back. Then a witch, leaving atop a mountain, gave him hope.
“It is said there’s a haunted forest in the outskirts of this Island, where, once a year during the longest night, one can bring their loved ones back to life,” she told him, and sent him on his way.
II. The Crow With the Thousand Eyes
There is a giant bird in his path.
Her dark feathers glisten under the moonlight, yet look opaque against the blinding snow she’s resting on. A multitude of black eyes stare at him, unblinking, and he sees himself reflected a thousand times over; shaking, and so small. She’s beautiful. Chopper grips the handles of his backpack tighter, the cold seeping into his bones despite his fur. He’s not sure he’s ever felt cold like this before. The bird caws inquisitively, tilting her head. The kindness of the sound falls over him, warming him just like the hearth of a home.
“Robin,” he says.
“Wrong,” she answers. “I’m a crow.”
“Oh, sorry, I don’t know why I said that.”
The crow rustles her feathers, letting a soft laugh out.
“Why are you so far away from home, little doctor?”
Chopper is not sure how she knows he is a doctor, but still, he lets it go.
“I’m here to see the lake,” he explains, “and meet someone I lost a long time ago.”
The crow hums, and stands up, her multiple legs kicking at the snow.
“I’m not so sure you want to do that,” she warns him. “The Forest God is cranky today, he doesn’t like new people coming into his home.”
He shakes a bit, scared, but still he takes a step forward. The crow lifts a hundred wings into the air, and bows, pointing him to the entrance of the forest.
“Hope you don’t become food for all the creatures leaving there,” she cackles. “And, when you’re done with your adventure, please come back and tell me all about it. I love stories.”
He nods, little legs still trembling, but keeping strong.
“And, Chopper,” she calls out, and he turns to look at her melancholic face, “please be careful.”
III. The Snowman, the Skeleton, and the Fish
The little doctor walks, and walks, through paths filled with roots hidden under snow. He trips on most things, but picks himself back up. Chopper is a reindeer on a mission, and nothing can stop him from getting to the lake at the heart of the forest. On one of those occasions, his hooves gets caught on something wiggling on the ground. He lets out a surprised yelp, face-planting on the muddy ground.
There’s a skeleton on the ground, sporting a fluffy Afro and, somehow, a wide grin. Chopper stares into dark empty sockets for a long time, before it all comes crashing down on him. He screams, and tries to run away…only to trip over the skeleton’s legs.
“Yohohoho,” it laughs, watching him get up and trip a couple more times. “You look like a reindeer who’s just seen a ghost!”
“You are worse than a ghost!”
The skeleton wiggles on the floor, and Chopper fears for his life.
“Well, my little friend, would you mind lending me a hand,” the skeleton on the ground giggles to itself. “Mine are… buried at the moment!”
It says that last part as if it were a joke, but Chopper can clearly see the two fleshless extremities peeking out of the wet soil a few feet away. He shifts his weight from hoof to hoof, before agreeing to do whatever the skeleton needed. Chopper was born kind, after all. He hears its pleas, turning to stare at the big piles of snow scattered around to their right.
“You want me… to build a snowman?”
“Yeah! Before my friend melts away!”
Chopper spends the next hour struggling to roll snow balls until they turn big enough to be considered snowman worthy, all the while the skeleton sings, its tune flying away and dissipating into the night sky. When it’s time to put the giant snowballs together, Chopper finds himself shoving at one in hopes it would rise up on its own. The little doctor kind of wishes he could transform into a taller, or stronger, reindeer. Alas, he is cursed with a tiny stature and weak arms.
When he finally manages an actual, if a bit lopsided, structure, he cheers. Chopper goes around, careful of not losing sight of the path, picking branches and rocks to decorate the snowman with. Curiously, he finds a pair of sunglasses and a piece of broken metal; it looks like it could make a good nose, somehow. He skips back, happy with his stack of materials.
He puts two thick branches as arms, the sunglasses as eyes, the metal part as its nose, but, before he can line a couple of rocks to simulate shirt buttons, the snowman cheers. Chopper startles back, Brook’s distinct laughter echoing behind him.
“SUPER GOOD JOB, LITLLE BRO!!” The snowman bellows, shaking around like it is dancing.
“Franky!?” Chopper brings a hoof to his chest, trying to calm his poor heart down. “You scared me!”
“That’s a super cool name! I’m keeping it,” the snowman with the metal nose declares. Chopper is about to ask what does that mean when a blue fish pops out of the snow, right in front of his face.
“Hello,” the fish greets, kind voice barely making it through Franky’s booming cheers. “Thank you for helping us, small reindeer.”
Chopper, startled once more, takes a bunch of steps back, tears threatening to spill out. His hooves slip on the frozen ground, and he falls down a hole.
IV. The Cave and the Picnic
Chopper scrambles in the dark, the air wheezing loudly as he’s falling down for a worryingly long time, until he lands atop a comfy green warmed blanket, the kind that is fluffy just like soft fur. He blinks up at the dark ceiling of this underground cave he finds himself in. It’s being illuminated by a gentle light, too dim to overcome the blackness, but it’s something. The ground is vibrating slightly underneath his back. He sits up, horns almost bumping into the rock of the cave. It’s a lot shorter than he expected.
“Get out of my kitchen, you stupid moss-cat!”
A squeaky voice breaks the silence, and Chopper turns to look down and he pales. There’s a small yellow mouse, its fur covering his right eye, smoking and yelling up at the pile of pillows and blankets he’s on…except the cozy pile rumbles and snaps back:
“Fuck off, curly, you woke me up!”
The mountain Chopper is resting on shakes from side to side, and he has to hold on to its fur in order to not fly away. It has paws, bigger than anything the little doctor has ever seen in his short life. They come up to scratch the green tiger's ears, but one catches Chopper's backpack instead. A claw hooks itself to a pink strap, and pulls him away, no matter how much he tries to hold on or how much he cries and begs. He's dumped unceremoniously on the cave's floor by where the mouse is standing. Turns out, the cave is massive, he was just seeing it from the tallest point (the tiger’s head). The reindeer can see the mouse's features better from up close, its swirly eyebrow the most eye-catching of them all. But it is also brandishing a very sharp butcher's knife, and that’s what makes Chopper's knees crank together with poorly hidden fear.
"What's this?" the mouse clicks its tongue. "You got fleas now?"
"That look like a flea to you? Damn, curly, you're both ugly and stupid, huh?"
“You want me to kick your ass, shitty moss?!”
The mouse stops looking at Chopper, turning an angry eye at the tiger. It throws the cigarette to the ground, stomping en it harshly to put it out. The mouse's leg, though, catches on fire. Chopper frets, but the green tiger grins like he just found his dinner. He pulls out three bamboo sticks out from under his tail, putting one in his mouth, the one good eye glinting with anticipation. Chopper suddenly feels even more unsafe, standing between them.
The mouse throws a kick, but the tiger blocks it with a bamboo sword.
“Fucking hate you!” The mouse snarls, dodging slashes and trying to land kicks. “Between you and that damn monkey, I’m always busy!! It’s your fault I’m neglecting my ladies!”
“Like they’d want to see your ugly face, love-cook!”
Chopper jumps around, trying not to get hit, yelling for them to stop or let him go, at least! Then, a door slams open, and an orange cat wearing a blue bandana struts in, followed by an eagle with a long beak. His heroes!
They all stare at each other, stiff as tree bark, before the hurricane of movement begins once more. The mouse drops to the ground by the cat’s paws, eyes so besotted, Chopper almost thinks they’ve turned into hearts. The tiger clicks its tongue, sheathing his bamboo swords back to their place on his waist, where Chopper can now see a dark green haramaki keeping them safe. The eagle squeaks, an odd sound coming from the bird. The cat yells at all of them, him included, until they fall in line behind her as she leads them out of the cave, and into a prairie with a delicately set table.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she tells Chopper, angrily swinging.
She takes the seat right of the head of the table, in front of the eagle, who’s wearing a weird blue and yellow mask even at the table. The mouse immediately starts fretting over her, while continuing to quarrel with the green tiger, as he dumps Chopper into the seat next to him, next to the eagle.
“Yeah, man, it’s dangerous out here,” said eagle finally speaks. “Specially for you, the Forest God doesn’t like visitors.”
Chopper frowns, but can’t retort because the mouse places a steaming bowl of rice and a plate of fried mackerel on the table for him.
“Eat up,” he spats out, as if pained.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to eat… or I’ll be trapped here forever.”
Everyone stares at him, until he’s squirming in his seat.
“That’s a different story, dude,” the eagle, explains. “Eat up, before he gets hungry.”
Chopper nods, about to grab his utensils, worried about whomever ‘he’ is. That’s when a nimble hand snatches him away, and the last he sees or the group is the mouse yelling, the cat cursing, the eagle waving him goodbye and the tiger deeply snoring where he’s sitting.
V. The Monkey with the Straw Hat
“Oi!” The monkey complains, once he’s done swinging through the pine trees. He’s shaking and twisting Chopper’s body, as if that would somehow give him what he wants. “You’re not Sanji’s food!! Where’s my meat?!”
Chopper stares at the brown monkey, with its weird straw hat and painful-looking scars. Despite it all, he’s not even a bit afraid.
“Why is there a monkey in a forest?” He asks, instead of trying to break free.
“Wha—Because I want to be! Why’s that weird?!” The monkey curses, or what Chopper assumes are curses—he just goes “oooh aaahh oooh” while jumping in place, fists striking the ground.
He lets the little reindeer go, finally, and Chopper just sits on the dirt, exhausted. There’s no path around, and he can’t see over the treetops. He doesn’t know how ,inch time he has left. He starts crying.
“Hey,” the monkey calls out, “don’t do that! I hate crybabies!”
It just makes him sob harder. He vents, exhaustion wearing him down.
“I can’t find the lake, and nothing is going how I wanted it too!! I just want to…and I don’t have that much time left!”
The monkey looks at him, pensive. He titles his head, scratching behind his ear with his foot, not unlike a dog.
“Chopper,” his voice sounds serious, despite its soft tone, “what do you want?”
Chopper clicks his hooves together, thinking it over.
“Everyone keeps telling me not to go, that it’s dangerous,” he hesitates, “but… I want to see the doctor again! I want to tell, him I’m sorry!”
The monkey laughs, and Chopper swears he feels the warmth of the sun caress his fur.
“Then do it!” the monkey shouts, swinging from the branches, joyful laughter echoing in the breeze. “I’ll help you!”
He grabs him again, throwing him up in the air and catching him mid swing. He does that for so long, Chopper stops being nauseous and he’s kind of having fun by the end.
VI. The Forest God and the Doctor
Luffy lands on the snow, sending piles of it flying, next to the frozen lake. He sits Chopper down at its shore, pats his head, laughs, and runs away. He gets up, dusts himself off and takes a shaky step towards the frozen water. Chopper slips, sliding forwards at a frantic pace.
He screams, closing his eyes.
Someone tall picks him up, carrying him like a sack of potatoes. Chopper can smell the acid aftertaste of medicine, the charred firewood, and that odd hint of flowers that Dr. Hiriluk always had.
“How’s Drum Island?” he asks as they walk, shoes creaking on the ice.
“Doctor…” he sobs, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to give you that mushroom! I—”
The doctor places him on a rock, somehow peeking through the ice, and smiles.
“How’s that old witch? She teach you anything good?”
“Yeah,” he tries saying between sobs, “Dr. Kureha took good care of me! I learned a lot!”
“Good, she always had her good moments.” Chopper laughs. “Head you’re a pirate now?”
“Yeah! I joined the Straw Hats!” He smiles, wider than ever, and launches into a very dramatic recounting of his meeting with his crew mates that would make Usopp proud. He loses himself in the stories, the doctors eyes never leaving his face.
“I never saw the Forest God,” Chopper startles, at one point.
“Yeah, you did,” the doctor answers, pointing at the ice.
Chopper looks down, his monstrous appearance looking back. Its tall broad figure, unblinkingly pale empty eyes and its sharp teeth. All things Chopper can confront for long.
“It’s this kid I took in,” Hiriluk explains. “I did pretty well with the last one, figured I couldn’t screw up too badly a second time.” Chopper blinks up at him, confused. “You gotta go, Chopper. We’ll see each other again. Not too soon, though. You have a dream to achieve.”
“I don’t want to! I missed you!”
The world brightens, the morning sun rising in the distance. Dr. Hiriluk starts to fade away, and Chopper clings to him in vain, desperation blurring his sight.
“Ha! So you did. But, still, you’re doing well without me. That’s all I could ask for. Thank that monkey kid for me, will ya?”
Chopper wakes up as he’s falling.
A strong hand catches him when he’s mere inches from the floor, holding his whole weight as if it were nothing. Zoro clicks his tongue, and pulls him back up to the hammock, and closes his eyes to immediately go back to sleep again; his soft snores filling the silence of the room. Sanji’s cot is empty, but Luffy is hanging off his in an uncomfortably looking way, and Usopp is sleep-lying in his. In the distance, Brook is tuning his violin, while Franky tinkers with something, both having a hushed conversation with what sounds like Jimbei.
There’s tears running down his eyes, covering the ruffled fur of his face. He’s not even sure why. Zoro shuffles around, pulling Chopper closer. The little doctor sniffles, and leans into the warmth of the swordsman.
He goes back to sleep with a small smile.
There once was a pirate, loved by all, who will one day cure everything he touched…