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Chopper woke up in the morning in the usual way; the snores of Usopp, Franky, and Jinbei along with the loud yawns of a waking Zoro pulling the little reindeer out of his slumber. Sitting up, Chopper stretched his hooves over his head and jumped down from his bed, putting on his hat and a fresh change of clothes as he did so before walking as quietly as his hooves allowed out of the room and into the fresh air of the morning.
The day felt like spring - the gentle wind slightly too cold, enough to make anyone but the reindeer shiver a little as it blew past. The breeze carried with it small pink petals from the island they were scheduled to reach in time for dinner as well as the smell of breakfast that almost had Chopper floating comically on the wind as the scent of warm pancakes and sugary syrup led him across the grassy lawn and up the stairs to the galley whose door was already open and waiting for him. The other early risers were already sitting at the table when Chopper arrived, cups of coffee or tea in hand as the Strawhat cook set another warm pancake on a plate, moving the plate and a cup of tea in front of Chopper as a greeting when the young doctor took his place at the table.
Over the course of the next two hours the later risers for the crew wandered in, got breakfast, and talked with the others already at the table. It was a schedule they all were used to after sailing together for so long.
It's looking like another very normal day, Chopper thought to himself, the sounds of his crewmates surrounded him as they usually do on an average day on the Sunny. As he focused on putting more sugar into another cup of tea, Chopper completely missed the knowing looks and small nods the rest of his nakama shared with one another.
***
Leaving the galley after a fulfilling breakfast, Chopper took a look around Sunny to see what he could do that morning. He could hear Brook playing somewhere, the soft song on a violin giving the skeleton away. Chopper saw Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji move to the door that leads below deck, remembering them talking about getting a few supplies up from the storage rooms in the belly of the ship; Nami following them and seemingly giving them orders on what to bring up, the distance making it too far for Chopper to hear what she was saying though. Franky and Robin were talking with Luffy near the figurehead of Sunny, saying something about how Luffy “should be ready for” well something, Chopper didn’t catch the last half.
All of them seemed busy at the moment, which meant Jinbei was the only one left for Chopper to hang out with. Looking down to the grassy lawn, Chopper saw Jinbei with his eyes closed, going through practiced, almost meditative movements - circling his hands and pushing out before pulling them back in again in a way that reminded Chopper of a few of Jinbei’s fighting moves.
“Would you like to join me, Chopper or would you just like to watch?” The fishman called out to him.
Chopper quickly moved down the steps to the lawn as he asked, “It depends! What are you doing?”
The habits of their newest nakama were still new to all of them and Chopper couldn’t remember seeing Jinbei doing those movements before.
Jinbei’s movements slowed to a stop before he turned to face Chopper, “It’s something that is part of Fishman Karate. Not necessarily to fight, but to help center oneself.” Jinbei started the movements, a bit slower than before as Chopper continued to watch him, “The movements mimic the flow of water and by doing them, it's a sort of meditation - to calm and relax both mind and body.”
“I want to try then!” Chopper replied, jumping in excitement as learning something new.
He watched as Jinbei’s face brightened, before the fishman laughed, “I will keep my movements very slow then so you can follow along!”
Chopper stood next to Jinbei as he moved, trying to copy the fishman’s movements this time; his arms slowly circling as his shoulders and hips lined up with them, and made the same pushing out motion he did before. As they mirrored the motion towards the other side next, Chopper could feel himself relax into the movements. It was just like Jinbei said! Chopper could feel how it was meditative, the circular motions calming his normally excitable nature and allowing his muscles to relax.
It wasn’t the usual exercise Chopper got in a day, running around the deck with Luffy and Usopp usually covered that, but he hoped Jinbei would let him join him again. Maybe it was something he could work into his Kung Fu Point too if he practiced with Jinbei enough!
“Chopper,” Jinbei, calling his name, pulled Chopper from his thoughts, “do you mind if we turn the other way? The morning sun is about to rise high enough to hit our eyes.”
“Sure!” Chopper replied, quickly turning in the opposite direction, back now facing the galley. “This has been a lot of fun!” He said looking up at Jinbei as the fishman also turned around, “Can I join you again sometime?”
“Of course Chopper, I would be happy for you to join me whenever you see fit!” Jinbei gave the young reindeer a large smile in return.
Elated, Chopper jumped up and down, asking to start the movements again, knowing he would be smoother in another try. Jinbei readily agreed, teaching his nakama the moves once more.
If Chopper wasn’t so focused and had looked behind him, he would have seen Nami sneak a look at where Jinbei and Chopper’s backs were turned to them before waving Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji into the galley, their arms laden with colorful streamers, bags of balloons, at least one banner, and various decorations. He would have also seen Nami give Jinbei a thumbs up, with Jinbei giving her one in return.
***
After a while of learning from Jinbei, Chopper was ready to lay down in the grass they had stood on to give in to his body’s wish to relax even further. With Jinbei called away by Nami - to help with something Chopper wasn’t sure of - he was able to do just that.
Closing his eyes and laying down on the sun warmed grass, he could feel that same warmth seep into his fur and relax him further. After a few moments of laying in the grass, Chopper could hear light steps making their way towards him. The quiet rattle of bone against bone told him that Brook had decided to join him.
“Would you like a song to help you nap, Chopper?”
Chopper opened his eyes to see Brook leaning over where he laid.
“I’m not going to nap! I just wanted to lay down for a bit but a song would be really nice!”
“Pardon the assumption then, you just looked like you were getting comfortable! Yohohoho!” Brook laughed in reply before sitting down on the grass as well. “Do you have any requests?”
“Hmmm…” Chopper thought for a moment, “Something happy!” He said, sitting up to face Brook as he did.
“Yohoho! Of course!” Brook said before jumping into song, playing the tune on his violin. It was an upbeat tune in a major chord, one that called for dancing and cheering. Before long, the two of them were jumping around in an odd form of dance to the song, laughing all thoughts of relaxing behind as the song Brook was playing willed him to move. The last few notes of the song disappeared under the breathless sound of their mixed laughter, their enjoyment of it lasting much longer than it.
“That was a really fun song, Brook!”
“All that dancing gave me a muscle cramp…or it would if I had muscles! Yohohoho!”
Laughter from the upper level of the deck caught Chopper and Brook’s attention. Looking up, they saw Luffy leaning precariously over the railing with a grin nearly splitting his face in two.
“Shishishi! You should play that song later, Brook when we have the par-” Luffy was cut off by a pair of hands sprouting from his shoulders to cover his mouth, the rest of the sentence cut off by them.
Robin smiled as she kept her new hands covering Luffy’s mouth, her and Franky quickly ushering Luffy into the galley, leaving Brook and Chopper to themselves on the lawn.
“Well that was weird.” Chopper said. “I wonder what Luffy was going to say?”
“Knowing our captain, probably something about food! Maybe he just wanted a song during dinner tonight!” Brook replied, the two of them laughing at their captain's fondness for food. Of course, Chopper thought, Luffy would be thinking about music with their dinner!
“Would you like to hear another song, Chopper?”
“Yes please!”
***
After a few more songs and a lot more dancing, Chopper was well and truly worn out. And thirsty. All that movement made him thirsty. It was about that time when Sanji would be around with snacks and drinks for them all anyway so if Chopper met him in the galley, then he could get his drink from Sanji sooner! Chopper made his way quickly from Sunny’s lawn and up the stairs towards the galley. Before he could reach it however, he heard Nami call out for him.
“Chopper! Join me over here!” She called from a lounge chair near her trees, waving at him as she did.
Sanji would surely find him over there, he always gave Nami her drink first anyway so it was no harm to join her!
“Nami!” He cried out, more than happy to spend some time laying in the sun with his nakama. Running over to where she was, he jumped into her chair and settled in next to her, the shade from the trees keeping them protected from the sun.
“You hungry? I have a couple of tangerines we can share, I won’t even charge you this time!” Nami smiled at him with a twinkle in her eye that would normally give away that she was up to something, but this seemed innocent enough and Chopper was hungry.
“Yes, please!” Chopper said, taking a cut wedge from the plate as he did. The tangerine tasted as amazing as they always do. The sweetness of the fruit balanced perfectly with the slight tartness, the smell of it already sticking to his hooves for him to smell all day.
“It's so good!” He exclaimed, taking another wedge and eating it just as quickly.
Nami laughed at his enjoyment having finished her own slices, “I’m glad they taste as good as they always do!”
The two of them took their time finishing the last couple orange slices on the plate, Nami even letting him take the last one claiming to have had a few before he showed up.
“You two thirsty?” Sanji asked, already placing a beautifully decorated drink down on a table on Nami’s side.
“I’ve got yours here too Chopper, no need to search for it today.” Sanji said, handing him his drink with a smile for the reindeer.
“Thanks, Sanji! It looks so good!” Chopper said and took a sip of his drink; the sweet taste of strawberries blended perfectly with the oranges they were just eating, meeting on his tongue.
“It's really good, Sanji!”
“Thanks, Sanji-kun!” Nami said as well, picking up her drink and taking a sip.
“Of course, Nami-swan!” Sanji replied, hearts in his eyes, “Anything for you! If you need anything else let me know!” He said with a bow, taking the plate that had their now eaten tangerines on it, before heading back to the galley.
Alone again, Chopper and Nami took their time finishing their drinks and relaxing in the sun. It had been a while since he was able to sit with Nami, just the two of them laying in the shade of the tangerine trees, quiet in the other’s presence. It felt nice. He should definitely try to spend more time with her like this. Before long, the comfort of relaxing with one of his nakama took him and Chopper could feel himself drifting off, sleep taking hold of him in the late morning.
***
The smell of lunch eventually woke Chopper from his nap. The sandwiches Sanji had dropped off while he slept were delicious and he and Nami shared another plate of food. When they were finished she said she had some things to work on, leaving him alone as she took the dirty plate to the galley, patting his head as she passed by.
Left alone on the lounge chair, Chopper thought of what else he could do. The nap had him feeling fully awake again and ready to do something. Before he was able to think of what he should devote his time doing, a mouth and ear appeared on the lounge chair.
“Would you like to join me in the library, Chopper?” Robin asked him.
“Yeah!” Chopper replied, eager to have something new to do, “I will be right there!”
The ear twitched a bit at his response as the mouth gave him a soft smile before disappearing. Chopper passed the galley - he bumped into Usopp, who was carrying some sort of wrapped box into the room - before racing down the stairs. He slowed down as he made his way in front of the library, going through the door at a calmer pace then he took getting there.
Chopper noticed Robin sitting at the far end of the room as he gently closed the door, so as to not disturb her. It didn’t seem to matter much though, since the archeologist looked up as he made his way into the room, offering him the same soft smile her extra mouth had a few moments ago.
“What will you be reading today, Chopper?”
“I picked up a few medical texts on the last island so I was thinking I would read one of those!”
Robin smiled again and hummed in agreement, extra arms appearing to grab one of the books Chopper had mentioned before they set it down on the couch next to her. He happily skipped over to where she sat, jumping on the couch and settling in before opening The Book of Herbal Remedies .
Before he dove into the pages and the new knowledge they held, Chopper turned to Robin, “What are you reading, Robin.”
“It's a book I picked up before we left Wano, about the strange creatures that live there. I’m currently reading about a creature they called a ‘Mountain God’. Would you like to hear about it?”
“That sounds so cool! Please tell me!” Chopper exclaimed, he closed his own book for a while so that he could focus on everything Robin told him about the Mountain God. She told him about how the creature was a giant boar that lived in the forests of Wano. His eyes grew wide at a few of the stories she told of the animal and the legends that formed around it. Her story ended when she talked about how Kozuki Oden had apparently fought and defeated the creature when it rampaged around the Flower Capital.
After she had finished telling her story the two of them settled back into their seats, now reading their own books in companionable quiet, only occasionally showing the other parts of their books they thought would interest the other.
***
It was mid afternoon when Chopper emerged from the library after reading with Robin. New knowledge from the medical texts he had just read still fresh in his mind, he started to make his way from the library to the galley and through there to infirmary to write down some of the more relevant things he had learned.
“Chopper!”
Chopper turned around to look at the lawn where Zoro was walking towards him. The other was glancing between Chopper and the upper deck as if distracted by something up there, before Chopper could look up at what it is Zoro called out to him again.
“My shoulder hurts. Can you look at it, Chopper?” Zoro said, full focus on the reindeer this time.
“YOU’RE HURT! SOMEONE CALL A DOCTOR!” Chopper panicked, running around in circles.
“But you’re our doctor, Chopper.” Zoro reminded him.
Pausing in his panic, Chopper remembered his role on the ship before wiggling in place at Zoro’s words.
“Calling me a doctor doesn’t make me happy, you bastard!”
“Of course it doesn’t.” Zoro replied with a soft smile. “But you think you can take a look? My shoulder hurts a bit.”
“Yeah! Come on! Let's go to the infirmary!” Chopper moved, pulling on Zoro’s coat so he would follow him to the galley and to where the infirmary was through it.
“Ah actually can you just check it out here? No need to go to your infirmary if we don’t have to.” Zoro said, not quite making eye contact with him as he glanced between Chopper and the galley.
“Well,” Chopper started, thinking if they really had to move before replying, “I guess I can look at it out here but if it's really hurt we will have to go to the infirmary.”
He watched as Zoro breathed out a sigh of relief before nodding, showing the potentially injured shoulder to Chopper.
“What were you doing that made your shoulder hurt, Zoro.” Chopper began with the examination, gently touching the exposed joint and feeling for anything out of place.
“I was doing some weight lifting when it started to feel off. I did a few more reps before I couldn’t hold the weight without it really hurting.”
Chopper nodded along, it was pretty common for Zoro to try to lift more than he should for too long. Looking at his shoulder though, Chopper couldn’t see anything wrong. When he poked at a few spots, Zoro didn’t wince or anything. Must just have been overworked a bit. Zoro did tend to go overboard in his workouts, Chopper thought.
“Well, it doesn’t seem to be injured! Just take it easy for the rest of the day and let me know if it hurts anymore and I can look at it again.” Chopper said, “So no more working out today!”
Zoro frowned at the diagnosis, clearly unhappy at not being able to engage in one of his favorite hobbies.
“If that’s what the doctor orders.” Zoro mumbled.
“It is! And it doesn’t make me happy you’re going to follow my order, you bastard!” Chopper replied, wiggling and blushing.
Chopper noticed Zoro glancing at the upper deck again, but before he could turn to look, Zoro took his attention again.
“Is there some sort of um… stretch or something I can do for my shoulder, to keep it from hurting?”
Excited to help, Chopper quickly forgot about Zoro’s distraction again, “Of course there is! Let me show you!”
Fully focused on helping Zoro move his shoulder through easy movements and stretches for his shoulder, he was unaware of Franky, Usopp, and Jinbei with armfulls of perfectly wrapped presents, quickly but quietly moving them up the stairs and to the galley where Sanji held the door open for them. When they were safely out of sight, Sanji threw Zoro a thumbs up - the cook receiving one from the swordsman where his arm rested over Chopper’s shoulder - before closing the door again.
***
When Chopper had finished showing Zoro all the ways he could stretch his shoulder, he finally turned to the stairs, only to see Usopp coming down them waving at him.
“Hey Chopper! I could really use your help in the Usopp Factory, you free?” Usopp asked.
Knowing his infirmary will be there for him when he is done, Chopper nodded, “Yeah! I’m free! What do you need help with?” Chopper asked as he followed Usopp down into his workshop.
“Well you see I was working on some stuff in my lab when I heard this weird rattling noise in the vents! I’m far too large to crawl in there to see what made the noise but you’re just small enough to be able to see what is stuck in there and get it out.” By the time Usopp was finished explaining, they had wandered into his workshop, the place slightly messy but with an order Usopp was surely the only one with the knowledge of.
Chopper thought about what could possibly be stuck in the vents. If it was making weird noises maybe it was a creature! Something weird and strange and poisonous? What if it was really dangerous? Fully beginning to freak himself out, Chopper turned back to Usopp.
“Something is in there! It isn’t alive is it?!”
“Oh no not at all!” Usopp quickly said, trying to ease the worry the little doctor had worked himself into. “It just sounds like a couple of small things are stuck in there. Definitely not alive.” When Usopp was done reassuring Chopper it wasn’t anything alive stuck in there, he watched as the sharpshooter looked around his desks, look at a few strangely shaped items and a slingshot on one of the surfaces, squeak at the items, before moving all of them off the desk and into an open drawer, closing it quickly before looking back at Chopper.
“It's definitely not anything weird and definitely not anything alive. I have absolutely no idea what it could be though beyond that and I definitely didn’t cause it.”
Chopper nodded his head. It must be something really unsettling though if it caused Usopp to act all strange, but he could handle it. Chopper puffed out his chest to give himself a little courage before letting Usopp know he was ready. Usopp took the cover off of the vent before lifting Chopper to the opening, holding on to him until Chopper was fully inside. The little reindeer crawled around the cramped space a bit before he found a few strangely shaped objects deep inside the vent.
“I think I found it, Usopp!”
“Great! Can you grab it and crawl back out?”
“Yep!”
Chopper grabbed the items, holding them close to his chest as he moved around, the space just big enough to allow him to turn around. Emerging from the vent with a few of the strangely shaped balls - if they could be called that - in his hoofs, Chopper handed them to Usopp before the young man lifted him from the vent and set him on the floor.
“You got really dusty in there!” Usopp said apologetically while trying to dust off Chopper’s hat.
“It’s okay, Usopp! I don’t mi- … min- …” Chopper paused, leaning his head back a bit before, “ah choo!” he gave a high pitched, cute sneeze. “I don’t mind helping out!” Chopper finished with a smile, a bit of the dust in his sinuses now gone.
“I wonder how they got in there though?” Chopper questioned, looking at Usopp.
“Hmmm….I was wondering that as well,” the sharpshooter said, hand to his chin and looking at the items Chopper found. Chopper watched as the hand that was resting on his chin moved and his fingers snapped together, an idea found.
“I imagine it went something like…” Usopp began, launching into a story that left Chopper wide eyed in wonder.
***
Chopper could hear the heavy, metallic steps of Franky approaching them halfway through Usopp’s tale, but was too focused in Usopp’s story telling to give the cyborg a proper greeting. According to the sniper, a group of Tontatta had made their way on the ship while they were in Dressrosa to play a prank on them! They had taken the time to fly into the vents and place the oddly shaped balls in them. Chopper hadn’t spent time with the Tontatta people like a few of his nakama did, but Usopp spent a lot of time with them and knows exactly what they are like!
“Cool story Usopp-bro!” Franky spoke up for the first time since entering the room. “Those little guys must have been suuuper quick to put all of those things in the vents since Sunny was only in Dressrosa for a few hours!”
“Yes! They must have!” Usopp said, a little stiffly with his hands on his hips. “They are a tricky bunch and love to play pranks! At least that's what Robin and I learned when we were with them.”
“They seem really fun!” Chopper added to the conversation. “I wish I could have spent time with them, too!”
“Maybe we will run into them again, little bro! And speaking of fun, I was going to work on a new invention in my workshop. You want to join me, Chopper-bro?”
“A new invention!” Chopper exclaimed, already working on moving to Franky’s workshop with the cyborg following. “Is it another weapon for Sunny? Or maybe something else for the dock system?” Chopper let his imagination run wild with ideas of what Franky was working on as they made their way over to the cyborg’s domain, passing the Franky’s Weapon Development Room sign as they did.
“It's neither of those things!” Franky stopped Chopper’s imagination from going further in favor of showing off. “It’s even better! It’s a robot!”
“A ROBOT!” This was the best day ever! Chopper loved robots and couldn’t believe Franky had made one!
Chopper watched, stars in his eyes as Franky moved over to the corner of the room where a white sheet was draped over a tall object.
“Yes, Chopper-bro,” Franky said as he took hold of the sheet with both hands before pulling it away, revealing his creation. “a robot!”
It was tall, maybe about as tall as Luffy, with wheels at the bottom of its legs to allow it to move and two thin arms attached to a solid metal body with a blocky head between its shoulders. It was perfect! The coolest robot Chopper has ever seen - not that he has seen many.
“So cool!” Chopper exclaimed, getting closer to it and taking in all the details.
“This is the Robo-Helper #6! Its main goal will be to help us with chores around the ship!” The cyborg let Chopper know, moving to set up the robot. “Let me just put a bottle of cola in it and get it started up!”
Chopper backed away a bit to give Franky the space he needed, bouncing on his feet in excitement at seeing the robot function. He watched as Franky opened the stomach of the robot, placed an open bottle of cola into the cavity, before closing it again. The robot began to whirl and stutter as the cola moved through it. Then, the robot started to move! Chopper gasped in awe as Robo-Helper #6 made its way towards him, not noticing a new presence in the room in all of the excitement. Just as Chopper felt Sanji standing next to him, the robot stuttered where it was walking towards them, a strange bubbling sound emitting from the robot.
“Hey guys, I brought down a snac-” Sanji started but before he could finish, the robot Franky was showing off beeped once before exploding, showering the space in the cola that fueled it and covering its audience in the liquid, sparing Franky from the spray due to the angle of the detonation.
The room grew quiet in the aftermath. The only sound being the steady drip of cola falling from Chopper and Sanji.
“Franky,” Sanji said after a minute, “you’re dead for this. Chopper, bath time. Now.”
***
Chopper would never tell the others this but Sanji was his favorite person to take a bath with. While his schedule lined up with Usopp and occasionally Luffy, the two of them were too distracting for him to actually get clean, always wanting to play around in the soap and water. Nami preferred to bathe alone so they rarely shared time in the bath. Brook never bathed for long when he did - something about his bones getting too wet being bad for them. Jinbei and Franky used strange soaps due to their different biologies that made Chopper’s nose itch and twitch when he was around it for too long. Robin was nice to bathe with but didn’t wash his fur deep enough to reach the undercoat. Zoro was Chopper’s second favorite person to take a bath with. The swordsman would get deep enough in his fur to reach the dirt caught in his undercoat and take the time to help him dry properly too but sometimes he used too little soap that left him feeling dry and staticy afterwards.
Chopper isn’t sure how Sanji learned to wash his hair but he is happy he did. Which is where Chopper found himself now, with Sanji working a good smelling soap into his fur to get out the sticky cola and dry dust from earlier. The water was the perfect temperature as Sanji washed the suds from his fur, being careful to not get any in his eyes. When all of the soap was gone, Sanji applied a conditioner to his fur and an oil to his antlers before Chopper moved to the tub to soak in the warm water as Sanji cleaned himself of the cola mess. A few minutes passed before Chopper felt the water shift as Sanji joined him.
“Feel better now, Chopper?” Sanji asked.
“A lot better! Thanks, Sanji!” Chopper smiled at the cook and watched as moved his hair around, shaking the water from it before sinking into the warm bath, letting the water cover his shoulders.
“You’ve seemed really busy today, what have you been up to?” Chopper asked when he realized he had only seen Sanji at breakfast and then when he had dropped off drinks for him and Nami. Normally he would have seen Sanji at lunch at least, but the cook would usually spend a lot more time out on deck then he did today.
He watched as Sanji tensed a bit at the question.
“Just ended up a bit busy today I guess.” He replied. “Stocking up the kitchen and taking inventory and all that.”
“Did you think of any new recipes? Last time you were in the galley all day you thought of a lot of really yummy recipes! Can I try them?” Chopper asked, his excitement for new and good food obvious. The last time Sanji was in the kitchen all day was a few weeks ago, having been testing a few chocolate desserts that he let Chopper try first!
Sanji laughed at the reindeer’s excitement, the earlier tension eased from his shoulders as he relaxed into the bath again.
“Of course you can!” Sanji smiled at him, eyes crinkling. “You are my favorite taste tester afterall.”
Chopper wiggled and blushed from where he sat in the bath.
“That doesn’t make me happy, you bastard!”
***
Chopper and Sanji walked out onto deck, fully dry and clean after their bath. Sanji parted ways with him saying he had to finish up meal planning in the galley, leaving Chopper looking around the deck for something to do. He could go back down and see what else Usopp has, or maybe see if Franky got the mess all cleaned up. Or maybe Robin was still in the library, he did have a lot of books left to read after all. Before he could head in any of those directions a voice stopped him.
“Chopper! Hey! Chopper!”
Turning to the sound of the voice, Chopper was caught by the rubber arm of his captain grabbing onto his shirt before he was being pulled, the reindeer screaming at the suddenness of it. His quick flight ended though when he bounced into Luffy on top of Sunny’s figurehead.
“Chopper!” Luffy yelled at him, “Hang out with me for a bit!”
“Okay! What are you doing up here Luffy!”
“I’m looking out to the sea, and to the adventure that’s waiting for us on the next island!” Luffy replied, holding Chopper in his lap and watching the horizon, the mid-afternoon sun high overhead. Chopper leaned back where he sat in Luffy’s lap - his captain placing his head on top of his hat as he did so - the two of them looking into the distance and towards new adventures.
It had been a while since Chopper had spent a quiet moment with Luffy and forever since Luffy had brought him up to Sunny’s figurehead to do so. The two of them usually spent their time playing on the grassy lawn, expending their endless energy running and rolling around on the soft grass. But this was nice too. Resting under the warmth of the sun as a cool breeze carried small pink petals and the occasional snowflake from the island they were nearing past them - thoughts on adventures and the future ahead of them.
“Hey, Chopper?” Luffy asked quietly, breaking their comfortable silence. “If you could wish for one thing, what would it be?”
Chopper took a moment to think on Luffy’s surprisingly introspective question, something his captain wasn’t often. What would he wish for? When he was younger, before he had joined the Strawhats, he might have wished for people to accept him, the little monster. But he had that now! And Chopper wanted to earn being a good doctor, the accomplishment wouldn’t feel the same if he just wished for it.
So instead, Chopper took a moment to think back on his day so far. The small, perfectly normal moments he had shared with his nakama.
“I would wish for more days like today!” Chopper said, turning around in Luffy’s hold to look at his captain. “It was such a good day and I got to spend a lot of time with everyone, so I just want more of that!”
Chopper smiled along with Luffy at his answer, his captain’s face nearly splitting in half from the happiness on it.
Luffy laughed before replying. “That’s a really good answer Chopper! I would wish for the same thing!”
The two of them spent a bit longer laughing and talking with one another. About their days, what they hoped the island they were approaching was like, what they wanted for dinner that night, and everything in between.
They were interrupted with a mouth appearing on one of Sunny’s rays near their heads, smiling at them and letting the two youngest of the crew know they were wanted in the galley before it disappeared.
Chopper and Luffy took a moment to smile at one another, a challenge in their eyes.
“Race you to the galley!”
***
Chopper and Luffy were breathing heavily by the time they made it to the door of the galley, their race having taken the two of them all over the deck of the ship as they got distracted, chasing each other at one point instead before focusing again on their destination.
After the two caught their breaths, Luffy turned to Chopper.
“Everyone should be in the galley already, are you ready to go inside, too?”
“Yeah!”
Luffy laughed as he quickly opened the door and pushed Chopper inside before the reindeer realized what he was doing. Before he could even get his bearings in the galley, Chopper heard shouting.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
Chopper looked up from the floor to see all of his nakama standing in front of him at the table. A huge banner with Happy Birthday Chopper hung over their heads with multi-colored banners curling down from the ceiling around it. Balloons of various shapes and sizes filled the corners of the space as well. A pile of presents were sitting off to the side of the couch to be opened later. The table had been decorated too, a pale pink table cloth covered it as well as a giant chocolate cake and various other chocolate desserts - some Chopper recognized from Sanji’s previous experimentations in the kitchen.
But wait a second.
“It's my birthday today!” Chopper exclaimed. He didn’t get to check his calendar in his office today so he wasn’t sure what the date was.
“Well,” Robin said with a smile, “it is December 24th.”
Chopper let her words settle, as well as the strange actions of some of his nakama. Zoro’s weird glances earlier when his shoulder was hurt, Sanji stuck in the kitchen all day, Usopp and Franky distracting him with tasks in their respective workshops. The others also set aside time for just the two of them to spend time together. None of that was really that strange - it was actually pretty normal for everyone - but combined with the decorations and the fact no one had actually let him go to the galley or infirmary today had the pieces clicking in Chopper’s brain. They had been setting up for his birthday party all day as a surprise! Happy tears started to fill his eyes as the little reindeer looked up at all of his nakama, wiggling a bit where he stood.
“The party doesn’t make me happy you bastards!” Chopper told them before jumping towards his nakama, his perfectly normal day made even better.