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These kinds of nights were always Chopper’s favorite.
The Thousand Sunny gently rocked side to side to the endless waves in the middle of the open sea. The sky was cloudless but far from empty, as hundreds of shining stars dotted the heavens along with a bright, glowing full moon. It was almost completely quiet, not even the cawing of birds could be heard from the distant shores, just the splashing of water, creaking of wood, and whispers of wind.
Most nights weren’t like this. Sometimes poor weather obstructed his view of the stars. Sometimes they were off on another one of their wild and exciting adventures. Sometimes his crewmates would stay up into the late hours of the night to play and goof around, and on many occasions he’d join them. But there was something very simple about these types of nights that made them the ones he favored most.
They made him feel nostalgic. They reminded him of the nights back home on Drum Island where he’d climb to the top of the wintry castle, to the very tip-top of the entire mass of land and just stare out into the cosmos. He deeply longed to experience them again. That’s not to say he didn’t like his current life, he absolutely loved it! His friends were like family to him, and it felt like he learned or experienced something new every day. However, that didn’t mean there weren’t some times when he missed living with Doctorine on the island he was born in the kingdom Hiriluk loved.
It had been a fairly arduous day for everyone. Not because of any fierce battle or enthralling escapade, but because they had stopped on a nearby island to restock their ship, and purchasing, moving, and organizing enough supplies to last ten people several weeks took a lot of time and effort. After bedtime had struck almost everyone retreated to their sleeping quarters, leaving him and Robin alone on the lawn.
She’d been reading him storybooks for almost an hour, sitting on the bench that looped around the mast while he rested on the ground. She had offered him a seat beside her, however, he chose his current spot as there was something about having contact with the bare grass that soothed his animal instincts. She gently wound down to the end of her story.
“...and so, when the prince slid the glass slipper onto Cinderella’s foot it fit perfectly, and he knew he’d found the woman he’d danced with at the ball. They both went back to the castle together, and they lived happily ever after. The end.”
“Wow!” Chopper spoke in adoration as he knocked his hooves together with applause. “Did that story really happen Robin?”
She laughed softly. “I don’t know for sure. It could’ve.”
Robin gently closed the back cover of the book and rested it on her lap. Chopper expectantly shifted his eyes over to the others in the small pile to her left on the bench.
“Robin, can you read me anoth-” His line of speech was abruptly paused by a large yawn. “Another story, please?”
“I don’t believe that would be wise, Doctor.” She stood up and looked into the full night sky. “It is getting quite late. I believe it would be best if we both went to bed.”
She had a point. Her usage of his title reminded him of the positive effects sleep had on the body.
“Yeah, getting enough rest is really important for your health.” He picked himself up from the ground and looked drowsily at Robin while she gathered the storybooks from the bench. “Thank you for reading to me. See you tomorrow."
“Of course Chopper, any time.” With the books now in her arms, she made her way towards the staircase that led to the women’s quarters. She briefly turned her head back towards him and gave him a warm smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow as well.”
And with that, she had walked behind the mast, obstructing herself from his point of view. He turned himself towards the entrance to the men's quarters and began ambling towards it. As he did, sleep tugged at his lids and hazed his mind. Robin was right, it was late and he needed to catch some Z’s, he hadn’t realized how tired he was until just now.
He had made his way to the entrance of the men's quarters. He and Robin had been out for a while, so it was likely the others had fallen asleep by now. He’d have to try to make as little noise as possible as to not accidentally wake any of his crewmates by tiphooving his way across the room. He gently creaked open the door.
He screamed loudly and ducked as a chair whizzed directly over his head and crashed into the lawn behind him. He instinctively attempted to hide, propping his arms up against the doorframe and remaining completely visible.
“The hell do you think you’re doin’ throwing furniture at me?!” Zoro shouted, all three of his swords drawn. “What are you, some kinda animal?!”
“Me an animal?!” Sanji cried back as he slipped on his shoes. “I’m not the one shoving people out of their beds in the middle of the night!”
The sound of haki clashing rang through the room as Sanji’s foot collided with Zoro’s cluster of blades.
They’d chosen a really bad time to do this. Sanji and Zoro abruptly getting into fights over nothing wasn’t anything new, they’d been doing it since he’d joined the crew and he suspected long before. That didn’t mean they weren’t obnoxious however, but at least those ones happened during the day.
“Oh please, that was self defense!” Zoro ducked under a kick. “You snore so loud you’re gonna attract the sea kings! Besides, I gotta sleep too!”
“Really?!” Sanji hopped backwards to avoid the back of a sword slamming into his arm. “Could’ve fooled me, since all you do is nap all day anyway!”
“Oh yeah? Well maybe I can’t sleep at night because your crappy dinners give me food poisoning!”
Sanji gasped. “You leave my cooking out of this!”
“Obnoxious lover-boy!”
“Barbaric mosshead!”
Their fight escalated into what Chopper could only describe as a gigantic cartoonish ball of smoke, which constantly emanated sound effects of punching, kicking, and metal clattering. Occasionally a head or limb would burst forth from the ball only to immediately get pulled back in.
Chopper sighed. Great, it looked like he’d have to break this up first before he could finally retreat to his bed. He was about to take a step over before he saw a humanoid figure shambling towards him.
“Mmm… midnight snack…” Luffy mumbled as he lumbered towards the exit. His eyes were shut, he had drool leaking from the corner of his mouth, and a large bubble was sprouting from his nose. While his body may have been here, his mind had clearly already reached the kitchen.
The straw-hatted man's hunger evidently knew no bounds. His sleep-eating talent had recently evolved by combining itself with sleep-walking, meaning Luffy could now locate, move himself to, and devour a full course meal all without losing a wink.
Chopper remembered a day where Franky had to grumpily rebuild the fridge’s locking mechanism after Luffy had somehow managed to subconsciously chew his way through the previous one. He supposed it would be best to wake his captain now, to avoid another case of that incident.
Or he would’ve, if a pair of large, webbed blue hands hadn’t grabbed Luffy’s shoulders first and swiveled him around.
“Luffy, please! You must restrain yourself!” Jinbe begged as he shook the younger man back and forth in an attempt to rouse him from his slumber. “We’ve only just restocked our supplies today! You must learn to ration your meals!”
Luffy did not wake. “Hmm rashinzzzzz…?” He snored. “Sounds yummy, I’ll take twenty.”
“Listen to me!” Jinbe shouted as made another futile attempt to get through to the snoozing glutton. “Think of it this way, if you eat all the food now, then that just means you’ll be hungry later!”
This time, Luffy did not register a single word he said, and instead turned his head to face him.
“Mmm, I smell fresh fish, I think I’ll have a bite!”
Jinbe barely reacted in time, as he quickly retracted his hand from Luffy’s shoulder. Luffy’s head bolted forward and his teeth snapped in the place right where Jinbe’s hand had been a millisecond ago.
“Luffy!”
Chopper groggily drew his attention away from the pair. Well, it seemed Jinbe had that situation under control, it was time to move to his bunk. As he peered across the room towards the row of beds, he saw Brook lying still in one of the top bunks, Franky sleeping like a rock in the one next to him, and Usopp clearly attempting to get some sleep in the one below him. Usopp was lying with his back hunched upwards and his face buried into his mattress. He had his pillow clamped over his head in an attempt to drown out the surrounding ruckus.
Chopper supposed that might be his best bet: Doing his best to ignore the commotion around him. Before he could move, however, Franky’s arm slipped from off his chest and swung down to the bed below him, slamming directly into Usopp’s spine.
“Gaaah!” The long-nosed sniper shouted as he jumped nearly a foot out of shock. He shot an aggravated glare at the metallic man above him. “Hey! Watch where you’re swinging that thing!”
“Huh- whuh?” The half-man half-machine snorted as he woke, before soon noticing where his arm had fallen. He laughed guiltily. “Oh, sorry bro! I’m a big guy, I can’t help it!”
“Can’t help it?! You could’ve paralyzed me!” Usopp bit back. “How about building some bigger beds, huh?! Or maybe you should just sleep in the dock with the other vehicles!”
“Hey! Who’re you callin’ a vehicle punk?! I’m a cyborg!” Franky snapped.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen, please…” Brook spoke as he wearily tilted his head upwards, clearly only half awake. “Can’t we all just set aside our disputes for now and go to bed? I’d really like to get some shut-eye…
...or I would, if I had eyes. Yohohoho…”
Brook’s words had gone unnoticed or at least unheeded as none of the disputes in the room had stopped or even simmered down. His row of exposed teeth formed a slight frown.
“Very well then. I know what will soothe everyone’s tempers…”
He shot up from his bed, firmly gripping his violin which he apparently slept with.
“...a song!”
He drew his bow across the strings.
“Oooooh, what do you do with a drunken sailo-”
Chopper slammed the door shut.
. . .
The soft yellow lamplight shone across the pages of Robin’s book as her reading drew to a close. She had been reading more children's books in preparation for her next nightly session with Chopper. While it was not her personal choice of reading material, some fairy tales had surprisingly gruesome endings, so she chose to screen each of the stories first to avoid accidentally upsetting him. She had just reached the end of the tale she’d been reading and closed the back cover.
She was one of only two women on the ship, and therefore the women’s quarters had been built much differently than the men's. It had a few discernible details like a fancy mirror and a tea set, but the most notable thing was there was only one large bed, meaning she and Nami had to share.
It wasn’t really a problem. Franky had built it very large, so they each had plenty of personal space and didn’t have to vie with each other for the blankets. She briefly glanced over to the tangerine-haired girl on the far side of the mattress. She was fast asleep, mumbling something about beri as she swaddled a wad of bills like it were a teddy bear. Robin supposed that was her cue to tuck in as well.
She placed the storybook on the nightstand beside her as she flicked off the bedside lamp. She hoped they’d get another night like this soon, she was eager to spend some more one-on-one time with Chopper again, he was such a good listener. She settled her head onto her pillow before hearing a quiet knock on her door.
“Robin? Nami? Are you still awake? Can I come in?” She heard the reindeer in question ask.
“Yes Chopper, what do you need?” She responded.
As the door slowly opened, she could see a very tired Tony Tony Chopper illuminated by the full moon’s light. He was wearing a pink onesie with white polka-dots that she’d bought for him earlier in the day, alongside a matching sleeping cap. He looked adorable.
“The guys are being noisy again.” He grumbled. “Can I sleep in here tonight?”
The room was very dark, so the only thing he could see was the reflection of moonlight off her large blue eyes. From her tone of voice, however, he could tell she wore a soft smile.
“Of course.”
Robin scooched backwards slightly to make room for Chopper. He closed the door gently, completely bathing the room in darkness. She heard the clopping of his hooves against the floor before he jumped onto the space beside her. She quietly wrapped her arms around him, tucking him into a warm embrace.
“Are you comfortable?” She asked.
“Yes. Thank you.” He shifted his body slightly, causing his cap to fall off his head. “Goodnight Robin.”
And, with those last words, he closed his eyes and instantly nodded off.
Robin shifted her head down towards Chopper as she felt him breathing softly. She gently stroked the small tuft of fur on his head and closed her eyes to get some rest as well. Before she did, however, she softly whispered two final words.
“Goodnight Chopper.”