While fixing the bed, Tom made clang-clang noises. He really missed Usopp at that moment. If Usopp were here, this job wouldn't fall to him.
Chopper nervously peeked in and out from the doorway. He was truly afraid of Luffy and Sanji now. If those two caught him, who knew if they'd really stew him?
After a while, Luffy and the others didn't come searching here. Chopper relaxed slightly and told Nami not to move around, advising her to rest properly.
Although Nami's fever had subsided, the Castacia bacteria were still in her body. Without continued antibiotics and quiet rest, the illness could recur.
Gathering his courage, Chopper told Tom not to make too much noise while fixing the bed, as it would disturb the patient. But the moment he finished speaking, Tom accidentally made the bed even worse, shocking Chopper so much his eyes nearly popped out. "Are you really trying to fix it?!"
"Of course. But I'm not very good at this. Why are you so afraid of me?" Tom asked, finding it strange that Chopper didn't dare come near him and seemed timid when looking his way.
"None of your business, you human!" Chopper said, hiding outside the door again—though his body remained exposed.
Truthfully, Chopper was just worried Tom would really skin him for his fur to make clothes. He was originally a reindeer. Though he gained human abilities after accidentally eating a Devil Fruit, he was still pure and simple at heart, basically believing whatever others said.
"If you don't hurry up and fix the bed, how can I rest? And who told you to make such scary faces staring at him? You scared him," Nami said to Tom from where she sat, then turned and smiled, thanking Chopper for taking good care of her while she was ill and unconscious.
"There's more than one room here. Why not go rest in another?" Tom said to Nami. "Besides, the scariest person in this room is you, right? Didn't you notice? He doesn't even dare look at you. Your fierce-looking appearance must have scared him so much he doesn't have the courage to even glance your way."
Hearing this, Nami's face immediately darkened. She was about to have a proper talk with Tom when Chopper suddenly turned his head, swaying left and right, happily saying to Nami, "I don't want thanks from humans! Cut it out!"
Then he added, scolding Nami, "You jerk!"
On the surface, Chopper's words seemed harsh, but his body language completely betrayed him.
Seeing how Chopper was practically dancing with joy just from Nami's thanks, getting so carried away he even forgot himself and scolded Nami a jerk, Tom kindly reminded him: "I think you'd better not say things to make her angry, or you'll be in trouble."
"Humans couldn't possibly care about me! Don't joke around!" Hearing Tom, Chopper seemed even happier, his swaying body moving more vigorously, and he habitually scolded Tom, "Cut it out, you dummy!"
"What did you say?!" Tom, who had spoken out of good intentions, couldn't tolerate being called that. He immediately pounced toward Chopper.
He's the type who can't hide his emotions, Nami thought, seeing Chopper's reaction and easily seeing through his nature. Watching Tom chase Chopper around the room, her forehead filled with black lines: This guy is the same.
"Stop playing around. He was just joking with you. Hurry up and fix the bed," Nami stopped Tom and said.
"Oh, it was just a joke? You should've said so sooner, hahaha!" Tom said with a relieved expression, laughing.
"Are you really pirates?" Chopper, encouraged that Nami was willing to help him, gathered his courage to approach her. As he asked, he gently tapped Nami's hand a few times with his hoof, though he still seemed somewhat timid and cautious.
It was clear Chopper wasn't used to contact with humans.
Hearing Nami's affirmative answer, Chopper continued, "Do you have a pirate flag with a skull on it?"
"That flag is on our ship," Nami answered truthfully. Seeing Chopper ask several questions about pirates, she asked, "Are you interested in pirates?"
Being asked this by Nami, Chopper was so frightened he hastily retreated, crashing into the bookshelf behind him, his face full of panic, repeatedly denying it: "I'm not interested in pirates at all, you idiot!"
"I see. Sorry," Nami said, apologizing as Chopper seemed somehow stimulated. Then she revealed a bright, sunny smile and invited, "Do you want to come with us?"
"Huh?" Chopper didn't expect Nami to say this and was so shocked he shouted, his mouth agape.
"Come adventure on the sea with us. If you sail with us, it'd be better for me too," Nami said with a friendly smile. "If there's a doctor on the ship, I won't have to stay here for three days."
"That's a good idea. Our ship really is missing a doctor," Tom said, though the look in his eyes when he glanced at Chopper clearly held other meanings, making Chopper feel chilled all over.
"Don't talk nonsense! I'm a reindeer! How could I be with humans?!" Chopper's emotions suddenly became very agitated. He weakly leaned against the bookshelf and slowly sat down, his tone carrying a strange sadness. "I'm a reindeer, but I stand on two legs, can talk, and have a blue nose."
"Don't you find me scary when you see me?" Chopper asked, slightly bowing his head. One could hear faint inferiority in his words.
"What? Do you want us to be scared? If that's the question, you don't need to worry," Nami sincerely felt Chopper's worry was unnecessary. Just look at Luffy and the others—and she had a typical example right beside her.
"No matter what kind of creature you are, I won't be afraid of you. In fact, I find you interesting because I've never seen a reindeer that lives like a human before," Tom's words made Chopper's eyes slightly brighten. Part of him hoped Tom was telling the truth, but another part felt it was impossible, after all, he'd been treated as a monster by people on this island before. "Are you telling the truth?"
"I have no reason to lie to you," Tom said to Chopper. "I will become the world's greatest hunter one day. If I encounter monsters, I won't be afraid because they'll all become my prey."
"Are you really that strong?" Chopper asked, seeing how seriously Tom spoke.
I'm not like Usopp, who boasts all day for no reason.
Just as Tom was about to answer, Nami, sitting on the chair, glanced at Tom and said to Chopper, "A few days ago, he killed a giant goldfish that could swallow this entire island. That Island Eater was much scarier than you."
"You're so strong! Is that what the world's greatest hunter is like? You can even kill a goldfish that eats whole islands?!" Upon hearing Nami, Chopper was so shocked his jaw hit the ground, looking at Tom with shock.
"It's nothing. I'll deal with even stronger prey in the future, hahaha!" Tom, seeing Chopper's admiring gaze, his eyes practically sparkling with stars, became proud. While fixing the bed, his hand holding the hammer increased its force. The just-repaired bed broke again, with a few more dents. He was so shocked his eyeballs nearly popped out, exclaiming: "How did this happen? The bed broke again!"
Who told you to laugh so proudly and hammer the bed like that? Nami thought, her fine brows twitching as she looked at Tom.
Chopper blankly watched Tom clumsily fixing the bed. He was about to say something when he heard Luffy's voice: "Reindeer! So you're hiding here!"
"Wahhh!" Seeing Luffy and Sanji charging over like starving tigers, Chopper immediately screamed in fright and ran for his life.
In the blink of an eye, Chopper was chased out of the room by Luffy and Sanji and vanished.
Tom didn't even have time to greet Luffy and Sanji before the two disappeared from sight.
Luffy and Sanji ran off extremely fast, partly to avoid Kureha, who was still chasing them relentlessly.
"They should have stayed to fix the bed, and I should have gone after the reindeer. They're so unprofessional," Tom sincerely felt he wasn't cut out to be a repairman.
"Sigh, those two brats are really fast," Kureha said as she entered the room and sat next to Nami. She had been chasing Luffy and Sanji and was indeed a bit tired—normal for someone who was, after all, 139 years old. Tom was even surprised she could run at all.
"Little girl, you weren't planning to invite him to join you while I was away, were you?" Kureha asked Nami, crossing one leg over the other.
"That's right. That's exactly what we did," Tom answered for Nami before she could speak.
Why are you being so honest?! Nami glared angrily at Tom, but he was busy fixing the bed and didn't notice at all.
"To admit it so openly is truly admirable," Kureha said, looking at Tom, her interesting face full of smiles.
"Do I need your permission to chat with a man?" Nami asked with a hint of mischief.
Hearing this, Kureha laughed even more happily. "Of course not. If you want to take him with you, then take him."
But then Kureha's expression became slightly serious. "However, it's not that simple. Inviting him in the ordinary way absolutely won't work because his heart has been wounded—a major trauma even I, a doctor, cannot heal!"
"When he was born, because of that blue nose, his parents found him disgusting and abandoned him." Kureha's words left Tom and Nami stunned.
The saying goes, "A mother never finds her child ugly." One's body, hair, and skin are received from one's parents. How could a newborn decide its own appearance? Yet Chopper's parents abandoned him simply because they thought he was ugly.
Chopper's parents were reindeer too, right? Then they were truly worse than beasts!
Just as this thought crossed Tom's mind, Kureha continued. "He always walked alone at the very back of the herd. He was just a fawn then."
From Kureha, they learned that after Chopper accidentally ate the Devil Fruit, the reindeer herd saw him as even more of a monster, forcibly driving him away and even attacking the young fawn with their antlers.
Left with no other choice, in the blizzard-filled skies, Chopper eventually left the herd in tears. Though he was no longer an ordinary reindeer after eating the Devil Fruit, he still wanted to find his own companions.
However, when Chopper went to a human village in his human form, because his appearance wasn't completely human—still covered in tan fur, able to walk upright but with his blue nose still there—the villagers saw him approaching through the snowstorm and cried out in disgust, thinking he must be a ferocious snow monster. To avoid scaring the children, they hurried them inside, called out the other villagers, and not only threw stones but also shot at Chopper, driving him away.
Back then, Chopper walked alone on the snow, crying as he fled, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints. He didn't know what wrong he had committed or why those humans attacked him.
Rejected by his herd, attacked by humans... he no longer knew where to go.
Neither reindeer nor human, he was treated as a monster. Even the simple wish of finding a companion to live with was beyond his reach.
In such a situation, he was so sad he didn't even know whom to hate. And so, he lived on in loneliness.
Labeled a monster from birth, spurned by everyone, abandoned by his parents upon coming into the world, losing his home, without a single friend, living alone with endless despair—this was Chopper's childhood.
"Can you heal his heart?" Kureha asked Nami and Tom.
Meanwhile, Luffy and Sanji, chasing Chopper, felt it was too cold outside and wanted to close the castle gate.
But Chopper, seeing them about to close the door, flew into a rage, transformed into his gorilla-like human form, jumped down from above, and stopped Luffy and Sanji.
At first, Luffy and Sanji didn't understand why Chopper was so angry when they just wanted to close the door against the wind. But then they saw behind the door a nest of snow bird chicks, still chirping full of vitality.
If the door were closed, the nest would fall, and the chicks would be in grave danger. That's why Chopper urgently stopped the two who weren't listening to him.
"Wait, did you notice? He not only talks..."
"...but stands on two legs."
"He's clearly a reindeer but can talk."
"What is he? He's small but can suddenly grow huge."
After chatting a bit, Luffy and Sanji both reached a conclusion and shouted in astonishment, quite loudly: "He's just like a monster!"
As Chopper walked back into the castle, hearing Luffy and Sanji's words, he seemed deeply hurt, bowing his head and slowly walking inside. The darkness of the corridor seemed to swallow his lonely, solitary figure.
Unfortunately, Chopper didn't hear Luffy's next sentence: "He's really interesting! Sanji, I've decided! Let's ask him to be our crewmate!"
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T/N :
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