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Goodbyes always suck.
But at the same time, there's always something exciting about the journey ahead!
"Luffy, Bai Ye, hop on! I'll take you guys down."
By the sled, Chopper—now transformed into his four-legged reindeer form—turned to the two of them.
And the people of this island… watched in awe as the "witch" rode off in a sleigh from the castle in the sky.
In reality, it was just Chopper pulling the sled along a rope bridge.
Luffy tilted his head, glanced at Chopper's reindeer form, then looked at the sled.
Finally, he turned to Bai Ye with a big grin:
"Let's fly down instead, Bai Ye!!!"
Bai Ye: Why do I get the feeling you just wanna start another snowball fight…
"Oh yeah,"
Chopper, hearing Luffy, switched back to his tiny, cute form and looked at them curiously:
"You guys flew up here before, didn't you? How'd you do that?"
Bai Ye didn't answer right away. Instead, he suddenly stepped forward, scooped Chopper into his arms—And gave him a good ol' head rub.
"You... you jerk, Bai Ye! Just 'cause you're hugging me doesn't mean I'm happy about it!"
Chopper squirmed, but Bai Ye didn't flinch. While forming a few hand signs, he said:
"Hard to explain. Better if you just feel it for yourself."
[Xun Hexagram – Wind Ride!!!]
"WAAAHHHHH!!!"
Even though he'd done this before, Luffy still got super hyped—he even tried testing the limits of Bai Ye's flying technique.
"WAAAAHHHH!!!"
What Bai Ye didn't expect was… once they were in the air, Chopper started screaming too—Just like Luffy.
He stopped struggling immediately and gripped Bai Ye's arm tight, nervously peeking down at the world below.
The moment he realized he was actually floating midair, Chopper's eyes lit up.
"This is what flying feels like?"
Suddenly, he felt Bai Ye shift, like he was slowly crouching down.
"You wanna try standing on your own?"
Bai Ye grinned and gently tried to place Chopper on the wind disc.
But Chopper's tiny arms were still clinging to his arm—clearly not ready to let go.
So, cautiously, Chopper stretched one little hoof downward…
Thanks to the soft snow already packed on the disc, it didn't take long to find his footing.
He stepped hard once, then bounced back.
Stepped again, even harder, and bounced back faster.
After a few tries, he finally let go of Bai Ye and stood upright on the floating platform.
Feeling the solid surface under him, Chopper lit up like a little kid who just got a new toy.
He started exploring the platform, full of curiosity.
Bai Ye watched with a smile.
To be honest, he didn't even care that much about the "ship doctor" role.
What really mattered was—
Chopper's just way too damn cute.
"CHOPPER!!!"
Just then, Luffy's voice rang out.
Chopper instinctively looked up…And saw a snowball the size of his face flying right at him.
WHAM!!
"Ahahahahaha!"
Luffy cracked up. "Let's have a snowball fight!!"
Caught off guard, Chopper forgot all about acting shy or tsundere—He immediately transformed into his big reindeer form and went head-to-head with Luffy.
Eventually, Bai Ye had no choice but to join in.
Because if he didn't, Luffy was gonna get knocked off the wind platform by a rampaging reindeer.
"Luffy! Chopper! Knock it off once you've had enough!"
"We're about to—"
POW!!
Bai Ye brushed snow off his face, a few veins popping on his forehead:
"You still haven't learned your lesson, you idiot Luffy!!!"
"And you too, Chopper—taste fear, you little punk!!"
Up in the sky, the three of them were having an all-out snowball war.
Little did they know, that very day, Drum Island would start spreading rumors about—
Three flying snow monsters.
Before long, the trio "safely" landed back on the ground.
Bai Ye dusted the snow off his robe, sighing.
"Next time you wanna play around, be careful where you throw stuff."
He looked at the two of them:
"Or else someone's really gonna get hurt."
At that moment, both Luffy and Chopper—faces swollen like pig heads—bowed and said:
"We're really sorry~~~"
Bai Ye gave a satisfied smile. At least they know they messed up.
Back in town, Bai Ye spotted Nami and the others right away.
But as they got closer, something seemed... off.
"Karoo!!"
"What the heck happened?!"
Nami and the others were circled around something, all of them visibly worried.
At the center of the group—
Was Karoo.
Completely encased in ice.
He looked like a freaking ice sculpture.
Sanji puffed on a cigarette and said:
"Well, I've heard frozen duck meat has a really nice texture."
"Karoo's not food, dammit! Get that through your head!!" Vivi snapped back instantly.
Zoro looked at Karoo too, teasing:
"Don't tell me he slipped and fell into a river, haha!"
Vivi turned back into a snarling beast. "Have a little sympathy, will ya?!"
Maybe Zoro's words ticked him off, because there was a dull thumping sound from inside the ice.
"Quack, quack~ quack quack~"
Then a kid's voice spoke up from next to Karoo:
"He saw Zoro dive into the river for a swim, but then Zoro vanished... so Karoo jumped in after him, just to make sure he was okay."
BANG!!!
As soon as she heard the voice, Nami jumped behind Zoro and smacked him hard on the back of his head.
"So it was your fault, you jerk! Apologize right now!"
But right after that, she realized something was off—Zoro, who just got hit, wasn't holding his head or glaring at her like he usually would.
Instead, he was staring straight ahead, like he was under some kind of spell.
That's when Nami finally snapped out of it too.
Wait a sec… whose voice was that just now?
She turned around—just in time to see Chopper nervously looking at everyone.
"Um… hi, everyone, I'm Tony Tony Chopper~ I'm—"
But before he could even finish, everyone who had been standing in a circle around him suddenly jumped back in unison.
Usopp: "A snow monster?!"
Nami: "It talked!!"
Zoro: "Is that… a tanuki?!"
Chopper: "...."
"I'M A REINDEER, NOT A DAMN TANUKI, YOU IDIOT!!!"
And so, after the usual chaos, everyone finally figured out who Chopper really was.
Zoro and Sanji couldn't help but glance over at Bai Ye and Luffy, grumbling silently to themselves:
"Luffy actually got his wish to bring a doctor and a snow monster onto the ship…?!"
Meanwhile, Nami and Vivi were thrilled to have Chopper join the crew.
After all, girls just can't resist cute things.
For a while, everyone completely forgot about the Psyduck that was still frozen in ice.
If Chopper hadn't heard its cry for help, they probably would've accidentally served it up for dinner.
"....."