Chapter 28: Blue-Nosed Reindeer

Hello, all. So I'll get right to the chase. I would like eight (8) Reviews this time. Hopefully that isn't too much. Now enjoy this chapter bacause I had a lot of fun writing it.

Chapter 28:

Blue-Nosed Reindeer

"That is one big-ass mountain," Sanji muttered, staring straight upward at the top of the centermost mountain of the Drum Rockies. The slope was nearly a perfect 90-degree angle riddled with ledges barely a finger's width wide. Wind howled past, carrying snow and sleet across the side of the circular landmark and threatening the six travelers with frostbite should they not be quick enough.

It was evening, nearly seven o'clock. The light was fading, and with it went what little heat was in the air. The three would have arrived earlier, but they had had a run-in with Wapol and his advisors. Fortunately, the lapans from before had come to their aid and beat the king and his pawns back.

"What now?" the cook questioned.

"We climb," Luffy answered, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "Grace, Gin, and Carue's lives are at stake. We can't stop now. Coby, give me Gin."

"Yes, Captain Luffy." The Zoan-Type Devil Fruit user trudged over in his Dino Mode, allowing the teen to remove the older man from his back. The two split Coby's set of swords, each using one strap of the pair to secure their comrades to their backs. Despite this, Coby unsheathed the blades themselves.

Luffy was the first to begin. He threw his left arm up and grabbed a larger-than-average ledge. His rubber arm slowly pulled his body up until the teen planted his feet on the wall. He started to climb, one hand over the other.

Sanji came next. Putting his powerful leg muscles to work. With the assistance of the steel-toed shoes he wore, the chef would firmly kick an indent into the cliff side. One step at a time, he slowly pulled himself higher with one arm, his feet keeping him and the ill duck he was carrying from falling.

Coby came last. He did not have the brute strength to lift himself with such little area like his captain or the blond cook. Instead, he took his swords and stabbed them into the rock. It seemed like a very Zoro thing to do, but it worked. The boy would drive one sword into a crevas between two layers of stone, hoist himself up to that height, plant his feet, and repeat the process with his other sword. On his back, Grace's pained moans drifted from her unconscious lips before being ripped away by the howling wind. The soft sounds in his ear pushed the rosette forward.

They climbed for what felt like hours. The higher they went, the more the elements tried to force them back down. Ice-cold wind buffeted them from all sides, leaving their skin flushed and their fingers numb. Blood dripped from the hands of the older climbers as the rough stone bit into their cold skin, their gloves having worn away.

"Captain Luffy!" Coby shouted over the wind. "Can you tell how much further?!"

"I think we're almost there!" the rubber-man called back. He reached up, but the next ledge was not as sturdy as the pirate captain had thought. The frozen stone broke under his weight causing the straw-hat-wearing teen to skid downward, his fingers and toes leaving bloody rivets in the rock. His momentum halted 15 feet down.

"Captain!" Coby yelled. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine!" Luffy yelled back. "Keep going!" The trio continued to climb, the peak coming closer with every passing minute. Finally, the snow-covered plateau at the top of the mountain came into view. "There it is!" Luffy called out, filling his companions with a final burst of determination.

They scampered over the ledge, collapsing onto the flat snow. Luffy's vision was blurring, unconsciousness threatening to claim him like it had his friends who rested on either side. There was a large shape, brown in color, moving toward him.

"Help them," he squeaked out, praying to whatever deities were out there that this thing was a friend. "Help them. Please-" He passed out, the strain finally stealing his mind and forcing him into the realm of dreams.

The beast stared at the group in shock. Had these people, these humans, climbed the mountain? His eyes were drawn to a scruffy man, a young girl, and a large duck, said three moaning and covered in sweat despite the below-freezing temperatures.

"Chopper!" a woman's called from somewhere behind him. "What is it?!"

"Patients!" The humanoid called back. "I think they climbed up the cliff!"

"What?! That shouldn't be possible! That's a three-mile climb!"

"But they're here! What do we do?"

"Bring them in," the woman responded. "We'll question them after they're healed."

"Yes, Doctorine."

Grace woke slowly, her head pounding painfully to the beat of her own heart. While it hurt, Grace was smart enough to know that it meant she was still alive; that Coby, Luffy, and Sanji had gotten them to the doctor. The girl sat up carefully, causing a bag of ice to fall from her forehead. She noticed that her jacket, smock, and shoes were missing and that her hair had come out of its usual twin braids. Without thinking, she reached for her hat before remembering that it was back on the Merry.

The artist looked around the room from her position in the bed. Natural sunlight poured into the room from a large window on the wall to the girl's left. Her bed was near the middle of the room with a bedside table on either end. To the left was another bed, this one occupied by a sleeping Gin. His coat and shoes sat on the bedside table between them. The walls were made of an off-white stone, just like both the floor and the ceiling. Bookshelves lined the walls between two doorways on two different walls, only a desk with various medical supplies breaking the continuous chain. The doorway before her had a door while the one to her right was freely accessible. Carue sat in the corner upon a stack of blankets, snoozing.

A tuft of pink laid on the edge of her bed. A second look revealed this fluff to be a sleeping Coby sitting on a stool and resting on his arms. There was a pitter-patter coming from the doorway on the right, indicating that someone or something was coming. Quickly re-positioning herself, Grace feigned sleep. Through the entrance walked one of the weirdest creatures the young girl had ever seen, standing on two legs and carrying a tray of herbs.

It stood roughly three feet tall and was covered in brown fur. Each of its short appendages ended in a hoof and its lower body was covered in a pair of maroon shorts. The thing's face was adorable, capped with a little blue nose. Completing its appearance were two antlers sticking out of a maroon top hat with a white X. One horn, the one on the left side of the creature's body, was held on by a metal band. She'd nearly thought it was a raccoon-dog, but raccoon-dogs don't have antlers. Obviously.

The thing, whatever it was, only glanced at her. It walked over to the desk, a small tail sticking out of the back of its pants. The creature climbed up onto the chair and started grinding the herbs together. Grace heard Gin shift in his sleep, the noise causing the animal to tense. Gin sat up blearily, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. The creature scrambled out of the chair and hid behind the door frame.

"Hid" being a relative term. The poor creature had placed himself in such a way that only one antler, half of its face, and its two right hooves were truly out of sight.

"What the?" Gin mumbled, blinking. "A tanuki?"

"I'm a reindeer!" the apparently-humanoid reindeer snapped angrily. "Antlers!" he, it was a he Grace was sure, added, pointing at said growths.

"Oh. Ok." Gin laid down again and was soon snoring quietly. The reindeer stared at him. Apparently he had expected more of a reaction. Grace slowly pulled herself up, pretending to only be waking. The deer scrambled back to his poorly-hidden state.

"Oh, hello," the girl greeted, smiling. "Aren't you supposed to hide more of your body than that if you're trying to stay out of sight?" The creature squeaked before adjusting accordingly.

"How are you doing?" the deer asked, eyeing her warily. "When you arrived, both of you humans and the duck had very high fevers."

"I'm feeling much better," Grace smiled. "Did you take care of us?"

"I only helped. Doctorine did most of the work."

"Thank you."

"I don't need your thanks, you big jerk!" the deer yelled angrily, dancing happily as he did so.

"Whatever you say," Grace shrugged. "Do you know where the other two that came with us are?"

"They're resting in another room. This one should be, too," he gestured at Coby, "but he wanted to be in here when one of you woke up." His words caused Grace to blush, believing what she wanted to. The deer saw her red face. "Oh God! Is your fever coming back? Doctorine! Doctorine!"

"Shut up, Chopper!" a woman's voice yelled, making the reindeer, Chopper, flinch. She walked through the doorway, revealing herself to be an old... ahem, young... woman in her aged... ahem, youthful... 130's. Medium-length gray hair fell past her shoulders and a hook nose protruded from her face. Two pairs of glasses, one for reading and one for blocking out the sunlight, rested on top of her head. She was dressed in very age-inappropriate- I mean... *cough* age-appropriate... clothing consisting of a white crop top with a pink floral pattern under a long sleeved purple jacket that showed her bellybutton piercing and a pair of worn purple jeans. "Oh. I see one of our patients is awake. I'm this island's doctor, Kureha, but you can call me Doctorine. How do you feel?"

"Much better," Grace answered.

"That's surprising. You and Scruffy here had what's known as the Five-Day Disease caused by a bacteria thought to have gone extinct along with the Kestia bug. Based on your symptoms, you must have been on the third day." The doctor held up Grace's left hand, the back of which was covered in a horrible purple bruise. "This was the bug bite that caused it. Still not sure where you got it since those bugs could only be found over one hundred years ago. Personally, you're lucky to be alive. Two more days and you three would have died."

Grace gulped. Death did not sound very good. Sure, she'd never have to work again, but her sister would be so sad. And who knew if they had rice crackers in the afterlife!

"Really though. Where did you get bitten, an island of dinosaurs?"

"Um… yes," Grace answered sheepishly. "Giants, too."

"Meeeeaaaat~" a familiar voice droned. Luffy, covered in bandages, wandered into the room sleepily, his nose guiding him more than his eyes. Grace knew there would be trouble as soon as Luffy's eyes landed on Chopper. "Meat!"

The pirate captain dove for the humanoid reindeer, the animal doctor responding by shrieking at the top of his lungs and running out the door as fast as his little legs would carry him. The wooden door, which led to the frozen interior of the castle, slammed into one of the bookshelves causing medical texts to fall to the floor. Doctorine blinked slowly, confused by what had just happened.

The ruckus and the chill from the open door seemed to rouse Coby who stirred. He lifted his head, squinting and reaching around for a pair of glasses. After a few seconds, he seemed to remember that he no longer wore them and focused on using his power to alter his eyes. Instead, three horns sprouted, two on his forehead and one smaller one on his nose.

"Ah, shoot," he muttered as if that happened every morning. The horns retracted before his eyes altered ever so slightly. "There we go. Grace! You're awake! How are you?"

"Hungry," the young artist joked.

"At least you're not dead."

"Obviously. I'm still stuck here with you."

"Get a room," Doctor Kureha moaned, dragging Coby's attention to her.

"Doctorine," the rosette greeted. He must have met her when he moved to Grace's bedside. "Thank you again for healing us. I know you had no obligation to."

"I just wanted to see if my apprentice could identify your injuries," Kureha waved off. Chopper and Luffy ran through the room, but now Sanji had joined the chase and was yelling about making venison stew. "Stop it, you morons!" Kureha shouted as she yanked a sword from a suit of armor in the corner, shifting the chase from two-on-one to one-on-two. The two pirates fled from the mad woman with the sharp weapon, forgetting about the deer. Chopper watched them go before slowly closing the door. He approached Coby carefully, one arm extended to touch the boy's arm.

"So you guys are really pirates?" he asked. "Like, really-real pirates?"

"Uh, yes?" Coby answered, rather confused by the question. "Really-real."

"So you've got a flag with a skull on it?"

"And a boat." Chopper tapped his arm, acting as if the ex-Marine-hopeful could blow up at any time. "Why? Are you interested in becoming a pirate?"

"No!" The small creature yelled, suddenly defensive. "Even if I wanted to, a monster like me wouldn't belong on a ship full of humans!"

"We've got plenty of monsters on the crew," Coby rebuffed. "Our captain is made of rubber. Our chef is a perv with one Hell of a kick. I can turn into a dinosaur. Heck, that guy in the bed right there is known as the Man-Demon on his wanted poster. None of us are really considered human"

"But I've got a blue nose," Chopper muttered as if that changed anything.

"I think it's cute," Grace told him.

Chopper awkwardly turned to the rosette, his eyes revealing that he loved Grace's comment. "You can turn into a dinosaur?" the reindeer asked skeptically. Coby closed his eyes. His horns slowly reemerged and his forehead extended slightly. Grace giggled; he looked ridiculous.

"As you may have realized, I ate the Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit: Model Triceratops, so yes; I can turn into a dinosaur."

Chopper was about to respond, but he was cut off by a cry of "MEAT! COME BACK HERE, MEAT!" Luffy and Sanji blew through the door and chased Chopper out. Doctor Kureha wobbled in and sat down, breathing hard.

"Damn, those boys can run," she wheezed. She glanced at Coby's new look. "What happened to you?"

"Devil Fruit."

"Huh. You know, Chopper ate a Devil Fruit. A Human-Human Fruit actually, but this fruit... some would say it ruined his life. He's got wounds on his heart. Wounds my medicines can't heal. Would you all be able to?"

"Are you asking us to recruit your apprentice?" Coby questioned, his horns retreating.

"I can't control your actions or his answer to that question, but I can tell you of his life..."

And so she did. Kureha explained how the deer was excluded from his pack because of his blue nose before being kicked out because of his Devil Fruit. She talked about how he was called a monster and fell in with Doctor Hiriluk, a crazy old man who began Chopper's education in medicines. He had been the one to give Chopper his name, his hat, and his fascination with pirates. Kureha gained a far-away look in her eyes when she spoke of "the old quack", leading Coby to believe that it wasn't just the want of an assistant that led to the old lady all but adopting Chopper after Hiriluk's death all those years ago.

Coby decided then and there that he would convince Luffy to recruit the reindeer as their doctor.

End of Chapter 28

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-SwordOfTheGods