One Piece is owned by Oda. I'm not him. This specific story is mine.
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As the snow falls, Chopper can't see how this day is any different from the rest of the snowy days on Drum Island. But Doctor says that it's special, and Doctor doesn't lie.
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As the Snow Falls
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Chopper placed the mortar and pestle on the shelf. "I finished grinding the ingredients for your next experiment, Doctor!" he called out. There was no answer, simply the noise of steam rushing through a whistle built into a kettle.
Dr. Hiluluk poured hot water into two cups, added tea bags and sugar. Hopping up into his chair, Chopper delicately began to stir his tea, dissolving the sugar and mixing the essence of the tea leaves with the water. There was quite clearly something on the doctor's mind.
The doctor took a long drink of his tea, then set the cup down in the saucer with a small clatter. Chopper mimicked him, right down to the slurping noises.
Hiluluk steepled his fingers and rested his chin on his thumbs, leaning forward onto the table. Chopper copied him as best he could with no fingers or thumbs. It wasn't very comfortable, so he hoped that the doctor would assume a new position soon.
Hiluluk leaned back in his chair, rocking on the back legs. His tongue snaked out from between his lips, a clear sign that he was calculating. Chopper did the same, careful not to bite his tongue.
Suddenly, the doctor slammed his hand down on the table, making everything in the area shift. Tea splashed out of the cups, cups jumped off of the saucers, and Chopper's chair, already precariously balanced, tipped and fell over. Crashes and clatters abounded as Chopper rolled into a pile of Stuff, with a capitol S.
"Chopper, do you know what today is?" Hiluluk peered over the table, searching for his adopted son amidst the mess on the floor. A head popped out of the rubble, a sock perched on the left antler.
"Um…is it your birthday?" The doctor had always seemed somewhat timeless to Chopper, but everybody had to have a birthday. It might have been a long time ago, as in the case of Dr. Kureha (not to hear her tell it, of course), but even she had a birthday. The notion of Dr. Hiluluk growing older had never quite occurred to Chopper, but it made sense, the reindeer reasoned.
The doctor stood up, offering Chopper a hand to get out of the pile of Stuff. "Nope. Today is December 24th." Chopper shook his head to get rid of the sock and the doctor pulled him out of the pile. "And do you know what that means?"
Rubbing the bump on his head, Chopper thought for a moment.
The doctor pointed a finger at the young tonakai, a sparkle in his eyes. "It means that tomorrow is December 25!"
Chopper contemplated that. Dates had never really held much meaning for him. Reindeer pretty much went from day to day, keeping track of days after they were finished had always puzzled Tony Tony. But the doctor insisted that it was important, especially for medicine (You can't treat a patient unless you know how far along the disease has progressed, the doctor lectured) and so Chopper did his best to keep track of the date. However, he failed to understand the significance of the next day. He blinked at Doctor.
"It's Christmas tomorrow!" Hiluluk flung his arms out and spun around, childlike in his glee. Chopper continued rubbing the bump.
"Christmas?" he asked. Dr. Hiluluk smiled at him broadly.
"Yep! Tomorrow is the favorite day of the year for children around the world." He began to lecture, his finger wagging. Obediently, Chopper climbed onto the now-upright chair and sat attentively, his eyes on the doctor.
"Every year, for a single day, everybody gets together with their family and exchanges gifts for each other. They eat a huge dinner and spend the day together in front of a crackling family. It's the classic winter holiday!" Dr. Hiluluk thought for a moment, then continued. "It's more of a holiday outside of Drum. It snows here all year long, which makes the magic of falling snow in the evening sort of wear off. But it's still a great time."
Chopper thought about that, staring at his hooves. "People get gifts for each other?" he asked softly. Doctor nodded.
"Yep! Everybody gets gifts for everybody else. It spreads love all around, huh?"
Chopper's head drooped. "Did you get me something?" he asked, even softer this time. Doctor nodded again, his smile growing wider.
"Of course I did." His demeanor changed, and his face became very stern. He leaned in close to Chopper, the hint of a scowl darkening his face. "It's hidden in the cupboard. But no peeking until tomorrow morning, you understand? It's no fun if it isn't a surprise." He leaned back and laughed, his familiar 'eh heh heh heh heh…' that Chopper did his best to imitate.
Chopper smiled and got off the stool, doing his best to hide his disappointment. The doctor had gotten him something, and he hadn't gotten the doctor anything. And it sounded important, too.
The doctor patted him on the back. "Don't worry. I trust you to not peek. Now, the sooner you go to bed, the sooner you can wake up and open your present."
Chopper nodded and trotted off to bed, thinking about what he could get for the doctor in the space of a night. Although he had no intention of sleeping, he pulled the covers over his stomach and stared at the ceiling, pondering.
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The soft wheeze of the doctor sleeping whistled through the small cabin area. Stealthily, Chopper climbed out of bed. In the dark, he accidentally placed his foot on some scattered papers, and crashed to the floor, taking a pile of books with him.
Well, not so stealthily. Chopper froze, in the futile hope that his lack of movement would prevent further fallings-downs. The doctor very kindly slept through the ensuing chain reaction of various items being moved from where they were supposed to be to where they weren't, all through the transmission in force. Had Chopper had a more scientific mind, he would have appreciated the physics at work.
The young tonakai was mostly occupied with medicine, physics held no magic for him. Thus, all he did as he hurriedly and carefully restacked all the books and papers was think about the present he was going to get for Doctor.
Finally, he was finished cleaning up. As he trotted to the door, a small crash rumbled through the room; a newly created pile had just collapsed. Chopper glanced over his shoulder to check on the Doctor.
Hiluluk simply smacked his lips and rolled over, obviously deep in sleep. Chopper pretended not only that the books didn't fall down, but that they didn't exist in the first place and therefore weren't there to fall down or even stack up. Denial having calmed his mind, Chopper quietly opened the door and ventured out into the snow.
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It was quite cold out, being not only the middle of winter of a winter island, but also the middle of the night. And it was dark. Luckily, that made it quite easy for Chopper to find at least one of the things he needed. He was looking for a large tree that he could knock a sizable piece of bark off of.
Whump
He found it and knocked the bark off of it in one fell swoop. Sitting up and rubbing his head, he checked the bark to make sure it was the right size. Chopper was satisfied, tucking the bark under his hat and proceeding with a bit more caution now.
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The snowy night, while quite beautiful in the right circumstance, is also quite lonely at times. Chopper sang to himself while walking and searching, trying to make the darkness not quite so silent.
"Tonight, tonight…Kakeme kuru yo…"
He dug in the snow, looking for a specific root.
"Twinkle, twinkle…"
Finding it, he carefully clipped it from the ground using his teeth, doing his best not to taste it. While the right colour for his purpose, it tasted horrible. He carefully tucked it into his hat with the bark, and continued on.
"Ichi dou dake…"
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Now, Chopper had everything he needed. He ran back to the cliff where he and the Doctor lived, careful not to drop any of his carefully acquired present materials. He scaled the ladder and opened the door, doing his best to not let in any cold air. The doctor snorted and turned over again, startling the young tonakai. After making sure Hiluluk was still asleep, Tony Tony trotted over to the fire, got out the bark, the root, and a burned stick, and began to work.
For a creature with no thumbs, drawing is hard work. Chopper knew that he could have transformed into his human form, but didn't think the cabin area would be big enough, and wasn't willing to find out. Instead, he simply did a lot of smudging out with his fur every time he made a mistake.
He paused for a minute to dry the root in the fire and grind it into a powder, then quickly resumed making the present. He had carefully reserved a clean section of fur for this bit, smudging was most definitely needed here.
Finally, it was finished. Laboriously, he used a small knife to inscribe 'For Doctor' in one corner, then hugged it to his chest, the feeling of accomplishment warm in his chest.
He looked at the drawing and freaked, realizing he had just smudged the entire thing. Quickly, he touched it up using the burned stick and dried root. Carefully this time, he looked around for a place to hide it like the doctor had, finally settling on under his bed.
After slipping the bark under the mattress that Chopper slept on, he looked around furtively. Confident that nobody was watching, he hopped over to the sleeping doctor. Leaning over to one ear, Chopper paused, then whispered "No peeking until tomorrow!", then sat back and laughed softly.
Finally, he yawned, realizing how late it had suddenly become. He climbed into bed, mindful of the surprise underneath him. Happily and easily, he fell asleep.
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Hiluluk sleepily climbed out of bed, his eyes almost but not quite open. He rubbed them with one hand, blindly picking his way towards where he knew there should be some candles.
He tripped over a pile of books (where had those come from, he wondered in the awake part of his mind. The sleeping part of his mind just rolled over and buried itself in the covers) and very narrowly dodged falling on the desk. Chopper bolted upright from the noise, much less of a light sleeper than the doctor.
"Ah! Doctor! Are you okay?" Chopper dashed over to the prone figure, his mind racing with various CPR lessons the doctor had given him. Using one hoof, Chopper ran it up and down the centre of Hiluluk's chest, a deliberately painful action. "Are you okay? Are you okay?" There was no response.
Chopper quickly tilted the doctor's head back and pointed at the hat on the hat rack. "You! Go get help, and come back!"
He waited for help to arrive, when he suddenly came to a grim conclusion. "AAH! I'm the help!"
Chopper carefully climbed onto the doctor's chest in order to do the chest compressions and rescue breathing. First, he placed an ear next to the doctor's heart, listening for a beath. Thump. Thump. Thump. It came strong and steady. That was good, at least.
Positioning his face above Hiluluks, Chopper began to steel himself to do rescue breathing. Sweating, he slowly lowered his mouth towards the doctors.
Suddenly, Hiluluk gave a loud snort and turned over. Chopper started, backing all the way into a chest of cupboards. A pile of books fell on his head, and the doctor awoke with a start. Sitting up, the doctor rubbed his eyes blearily. "Oh, Chopper. You're up?" The doctor looked around, taking in the state of his one-room house. "Why am I on the floor?"
Wordlessly, Chopper pointed at the pile of books at the doctor's feet. Hiluluk glared at them. "Oh yes. I tripped on these books. Were these always here, Chopper?"
Unable to speak, Chopper nodded. The doctor shrugged, and got up. Quickly, he stacked the books and pushed them into a corner with one foot. He offered a hand to pull Chopper to his feet, and they walked towards the kitchen table.
"Presents on an empty stomach always make for a poor digestion, Chopper," the doctor began lecturing as he lit the stove. "At least, that's what my mother always told me." Hiluluk crouched down, his smiling eyes looking directly into Chopper's questioning ones. "But when I moved out here, I discovered something very important."
Hiluluk leaned in closer, as if divulging a secret of national security. "If you open the presents while breakfast is cooking, you feel just fine!" He turned Chopper around and pointed him towards the cupboard. "Go on, there's something special in there for you!"
Chopper gasped and ran towards the cupboard, opening it to find a block of wrapped something inside. He pulled it out and waddled back towards the doctor, whatever it was, it was heavy. Plopping down on the floor with the present between his legs, Chopper examined it from every angle, trying to figure out what it was.
He looked up at the doctor cooking breakfast, curious. "Is it a big paperweight?"
The doctor stared at him, stirring the food in the pot on autopilot. "What? No. It's wrapped. You need to open it to find out what it is. That's part of the tradition. Everybody wraps the presents to make it a surprise!" The doctor's glee was evident on his face, plainly showing what the doctor thought of such traditions.
Chopper's heart began to sink. Slowly, he ran a hoof along the top edge, breaking through the paper. He ripped it off carefully, extracting the present within.
"It's a book…" he said sadly. He hadn't gotten the doctor anything like this. Hiluluk missed the low tones in Chopper's voice.
"Yup! And it's not just any book. It was the first book on medicine that I ever read. It got me started on the path that I'm on. So now, I'm giving it to you." The doctor's smile was practically splitting his face.
Chopper set the book down softly. He trudged over to his mattress and withdrew the sorry scrap of bark he had spent all last night scribbling on with ash and ground root. Looking at it, he sadly gave it to the doctor.
"What's this?" Hiluluk stared at it questioningly. Chopper's voice was low, almost too low to be heard.
"It's my present to you. I'm sorry. I didn't know that it should have been a book, or that it should have been wrapped. I hope it's okay. I know it isn't very good, but…" Chopper trailed off, unable to properly articulate his shame. The tonakai stared at the floor, scuffing his hooves against it in sadness.
"Why…This is beautiful!" The doctor smiled at the picture. "It's a sakura tree, right? You've got the trunk here, and the blossoms flying all around, and that's the perfect shade of pink! How did you get that? When did you make this?" Quickly, the doctor rummaged through his desk, coming up with a nail, a length of string, and a hammer. He affixed the string to the bark and hung the picture on the wall, tapping the nail lightly with the hammer.
Chopper stared at the drawing on the wall. Could it be that his measly attempt at a gift hadn't violated some sacred tradition that the doctor held?
Hiluluk walked back to Chopper's position, then turned and looked at the black-and-pink drawing of a sakura tree in full bloom. The wind was obviously swirling through the area, as heart shaped blossoms were flying all around, like a snowstorm except beautifully pink. The art was rough, certainly, but the colours seemed to fit in some natural way, making it seem like the grove was almost, but not quite there.
Hiluluk adjusted the picture a bit, making sure it was straight. Chopper hugged his leg.
"I used a dried root to get the pink. I still have some, I can show it to you if you like."
The doctor nodded. "I would like that very much," he said. Crouching down, Hiluluk swept Chopper up into a giant hug. "It's the best present I've gotten in a long time," he whispered. Chopper started to cry, overcome with emotion.
Doctor set Chopper down, tears in his eyes. "Go get your book and start studying. I want to look at this beautiful picture a bit more."
Chopper nodded, lugging his new book over to the mattress. Plopping down on the overstuffed sack, Chopper began to turn pages, doing his best to absorb the dense information.
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Sake glasses clinked together.
"Merry Christmas, and a happy new year."
"Bah. I don't bother celebrating new years anymore. I've seen over a hundred of them, the glitter has all worn off. For me, it's just an excuse to drink good sake."
"I wasn't aware you needed an excuse."
"You shut up. When you've lived over a hundred years, you can talk back to me. Wanna know the secret?"
"No. I want to heal this country. And I'll do it, too. I know how."
"I still say it's impossible. It's winter all the time here. You'll never get sakura to bloom, it's just too cold."
"I can do it. Chopper gave me a hint earlier today."
"That reindeer you've adopted? What can he do?"
"He's gonna be a doctor. He's got a good heart, I can tell."
"You need more than a good heart to be a doctor. You need medical knowledge."
"I'll give him that, don't worry. But as long as he's got the will to practice, he'll learn the material."
"If you say so."
…
…
"Hey, Quack."
"Yeah? What is it, you crazy old lady?"
"When you get sakura to bloom on the island, make sure you tell me. It sounds like it'll be beautiful."
"Yeah. It will be."
owari
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Author's note: That was fun. My first excursion into the One Piece fandom. One Piece is, after all, my favorite manga in the entire world, so I've been trying to write a story about it for a while. I feel good, being in the company of people like X-Parrot and Naye. I'd mention Starah too, but she writes Naruto and I'm already all over that, in a way.
I wrote this about Chopper and Hiluluk because I had to. When I watched the drum arc, I actually cried several times during the flashback episodes. I decided that if something is well written enough and meaningful enough to make me cry, then I should write a story about it.
The song that Chopper sings is "Twinkle Twinkle", a Christmas song from the One Piece Christmas CD. It's an absolutely adorable song sung by Chopper. My apologies if the lyrics are incorrect. And I know they skip lines. Chopper isn't always the easiest person to understand, so I just wrote what I could get.
I'm aware that Chopper's birthday is December 24th. But I don't think Chopper kept track of time well enough to be aware of when his birthday was, although he appears to be curious about Hiluluk's.
I've actually seen something like what Chopper drew. A couple years ago, I went to Japan with my school exchange program. It was the end of april, and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. I was wandering around Kyoto, when suddenly the wind picked up and whirled through this lane of sakura trees. All of these loose blossoms got picked up and swirled around. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I understand why Hiluluk says that cherry blossoms can heal the sick.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everybody.