Chereads / A Wish on a Comet / Chapter 7 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Chapter 7

At the top of the mountain in Dr. Kureha's castle, Chopper continues his chase from Luffy with Rose in his arms until he turns a corner, runs back into the lab where they started, and almost closes the door all the way with his foot. He and Rose watched through the crack in the door as Luffy ran past the room and continued running down the hall in hopes of finding them.

As soon as he knew that Luffy was gone, Chopper sighed in relief. "Finally, I thought I'd never lose him."

Rose nods as she stares out the door. "If Luffy's anything, he's persistent."

Chopper pauses as he remembers that he's still carrying Rose then puts her down. "Sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you into the chase!"

Rose quickly shakes her head before she giggles at the fun chase. "Don't be, that was really fun. This was probably the second craziest chase I've ever been in."

Chopper tilts his head in confusion before he changes back into brain point. "The second?"

"Yea, I was chased by a giant dinosaur a few days ago."

His eyes bug out in utter shock at the easygoing answer. "WHAT?!"

She nods before she giggles at the memory. "Yea, I had to shake him twice before he gave up on me."

She pauses before she strokes her chin in thought. "Actually, the second craziest was probably when I got chased by those lapins so I guess this is the third craziest." *Has it really not been a week yet? Man, I love this world.*

Chopper looks at her in pure awe. "W-wow…"

Rose grins down at him before she looks at her arms that are still burning from the ointment. "Hey doc, is it ok if I dry this ointment off now?"

Chopper widens his eyes at the question before he quickly nods. "Yea, it should be ok now. By tomorrow morning they should be completely gone."

The wind girl slightly widens her eyes at the news that her scars from her foster family's abuse will fade so quickly before she brightly smiles at him. "Really?! That's great, thank you!"

She couldn't help her excitement as the large grin stays on her face while she blows wind off her body to dry the ointment off her arms, neck and cheek. *I can't wait for all these marks to finally disappear! Now I won't have to deal with everyone's stares anymore!*

Chopper begins to feel a pleasant, warm, breeze blowing off her and brushing through his fur before he softly grins at the warmth. "Wow, what a warm breeze."

Rose blinks in surprise at the comment before her wind fades away. "My wind was warm?"

The reindeer nods before he looks at her in confusion. "You didn't feel it?"

She shakes her head before she looks down at her arms. "No, I just felt the wind blowing off me." *Maybe it's because of the burning.*

She shrugs to herself while Chopper nervously looks out the hallway for any signs of Luffy and sees that the coast is clear. "The infirmary you were staying in is five doors down the hall to the left. You should go back to bed and rest. Your injuries still haven't fully healed yet."

The brunette nods in agreement as she grabs her jacket from the back of the chair. "Sounds good, you should go find a better place to hide too before Luffy gets back."

Chopper didn't need to be told twice as he runs in the opposite direction of the infirmary.

Rose giggles at the fun she just had before she walks out of the room.

"ROSE!"

The freckled girl pauses to see Luffy run up to her then he looks around the halls frantically. "Where's the reindeer?!"

Rose casually shrugs at the question. "Don't know, after we lost you he ordered me back to the infirmary before he ran off on his own."

Luffy widens his eyes at the explanation before he starts pouting. "Aww, why do you get to be close to him?"

"Cause I didn't try to eat him after he treated my injuries."

"But I don't want to eat him anymore. I want him in my crew."

Rose chuckles at his reaction before she points at the direction that Chopper took. "In that case, try calling him by his name instead of 'reindeer'."

Luffy blinks in surprise before he nods with a toothy grin. "Got it, what was his name again?"

"His name's Chopper. He seems to also like being called doc so you can try that too."

He shakes his head at the suggestion. "I like Chopper better. Thanks Rose."

"Anytime, but please try not to-"

Luffy runs off to try to find Chopper again before she finishes, so she stares at his direction blankly. "And now I'm talking to the air..." She sighs as she scratches the back of her head and starts walking away. "As long as he doesn't call him a monster again it's fine."

She walks back into the infirmary to see Nami listening to Dr. Kureha's story intently. "So he kicked Chopper out so that he wouldn't watch him die…"

Kureha nods as she takes a swig of her liquor. "Hiruluk then begged for my help so that he could live a little longer and finish his research."

Rose's eyes soften at the old woman's story. *So they're talking about Chopper's past with Dr. Hiruluk…*

Nami pauses at the sound of the door moving then notices Rose in the room. "There you are Rose. What happened with the others?"

Rose snaps out of her thoughts then shrugs as she walks to her bed. "Nothing much, Luffy's still on his chase. Not sure where Sanji is though."

Dr. Kureha pointed out of the room with her thumb. "He's using my kitchen to make some food."

Rose sits down on the bed and wraps the blanket around her. "I see." She turns to Nami as she gets comfortable. "You guys were talking about Chopper's past?"

Nami nods as she starts explaining what she missed. "Yea, there was a doctor with a terminal illness who saved Chopper's life and took him in. When his injuries were completely healed the doctor kicked him out, but he only did it so that Chopper wouldn't watch him die from the disease."

Rose nods at the recap before she turns to Dr. Kureha. "I take it Chopper found out about the illness?"

Dr. Kureha takes another swig of her alcohol before she slowly nods. "He did, and he decided to try and find a way to cure Hiruluk himself. He even faced the herd that abandoned him in order to obtain a mushroom that he believed could cure every illness."

Rose softens her expression at the story as she joins Nami in listening to every word of Chopper's painful past.

Chopper manages to hide behind a few boxes in a storage room just before Luffy opens the door. "Hey Chopper, are you in here?! Join my pirate crew!"

Chopper covers his mouth to make sure that he stays silent while Luffy looks at the table filled with fruit with excitement. "Alright, food!"

"Hm?" Chopper looks over the boxes to see Luffy munching on as much fruit as he can eat with his back to the little reindeer.

"Awesome!"

Chopper could only stare at the pirate captain before he nervously speaks up. "Umm, are you really a pirate?"

Luffy stops eating then turns around with a big grin. "Yup."

"Is it really that great to be a pirate?"

"Of course it is. We do a lot of fun stuff like fishing, singing, and we go a lot of fun adventures."

Chopper blinks in surprise before he slowly walks out of his hiding spot. "Pirates really go on adventures?"

"Yea, being a pirate is the best thing in the world. You can find out how fun it is if you join us."

Chopper snaps out of his daze before he shakes his head and runs away. "I don't want to join so just give up on me!"

Luffy looks at him in shock before he runs after him again. "Come back here Chopper! Just join us!"

"I said no!" *I shouldn't have asked him about pirates, now he won't stop. Still, he sounds just like the pirates that Dr. Hiruluk told me about…* Chopper continues running relentlessly with Luffy on his tail until he picks up a familiar scent.

"What?" The reindeer skids to a stop while Luffy couldn't stop quick enough and slides past him to crash into a wall.

Luffy sits up to see Chopper sniffing the air then he furrows his eyebrows at the scent.

"Wapol…" He transforms into a four legged reindeer and runs away while Luffy looks at him with stars in his eyes.

"Whoa, he can turn into a real reindeer too?! That's awesome!"

He quickly stands up and tries his best to catch up to Chopper, who's already a mile ahead of him and in the infirmary where the girls are just after they finished the story. "Doctorine, Wapol's back!"

Rose and Nami freeze at the name while Dr. Kureha smirks and stands up. "He is huh? Let's go take care of him."

Chopper nods as he and Dr. Kureha run out of the room just as Sanji walks in with a tray of food. "Where are they going?"

Rose smirks at the upcoming fight as she throws the blanket off, gets up, and runs to the door. "They went out to face Wapol, I'm gonna back them up!"

Nami and Sanji widen their eyes at this before Sanji places the tray down on the table next to Nami's bed then grabs his jacket. "Please enjoy the meal while I go help Rose out Nami."

The red head slowly nods as she watches him run out and stares at the open door when Luffy runs in. "Where's Chop-"

He looks around to see that she's the only one in the room. "Where is everybody?"

"Outside."

Luffy nods as he runs out causing her eyes to widen. "YOU FORGOT YOUR JACKET AGAIN!"

After defeating all the lapins in the forest, Wapol and his two lackeys have finished riding their hippo onto the mountain's peak to see the castle waiting for him.

Wapol smirks up at the palace with pride. "Just look at it men! It hasn't changed a bit! I can finally reclaim my throne!"

Tears form in Chess' eyes as he kneels in front of his king. "It was only a matter of time sire."

Kuromarimo joins his fellow servant in kneeling until he spots something at the top of the castle. "Hold on Lord Wapol, there's a strange flag at the top of the castle."

Wapol looks at the top of the castle in confusion to see a black flag standing there with a skull and crossbones on the center with cherry blossoms surrounding it. "What the hell's a pirate flag doing up there?! Where's Drum Island's flag?!"

"Hahahaha, I burnt that flag a long time ago."

Wapol, Chess and Kuromarimo widen their eyes at Dr. Kureha's voice as she walks out of the castle with Chopper.

Wapol grits his teeth in fury as he glares at the doctor. "So you finally showed up at last Dr. Kureha. What do you think you're doing here?!"

Dr. Kureha snickers at the false king. "This place is Hiruluk's tomb now. It's not a place for spoiled kids like you. Just get out of here."

The iron jawed man looks at her in utter shock. "YOU'RE CALLING MY HOME THAT STUPID QUACK'S TOMB?! THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"

Chopper starts growling at the insults to his adoptive parent when Rose runs outside with Luffy and Sanji right behind her.

Rose finds the former king in front of them before she silently glares at him.

Luffy widens his eyes when he sees Wapol. "It's you!"

Sanji groans at the sight of the king in front of him. "What the hell are they doing here?"

Luffy bares his teeth as he starts getting his fists ready. "You really pissed me off before!"

Wapol looks at Luffy in utter shock when he stretches his arm back. "GUM GUM PISTOL!"

The others only stared as Luffy stretched his arm forward and punched Wapol straight in the face as hard as he can to send him flying.

Chopper was completely slack jawed at the punch while Dr. Kureha widened her eyes at the display. "What just happened?"

Rose chuckles at the reactions while she points at Wapol who's about to fall off the mountain. "Luffy just sent Wapol flying."

"LORD WAPOL!" Chess and Kuromarimo managed to grab their king by the legs just before he fell off the mountain so that he was hanging upside down from the ledge.

They quickly pulled him back onto the mountain as he groaned in pain. "Ugh, that was close…"

Wapol stays down to recover while Luffy speaks up. "You guys treated me and my friends really badly last time."

The two soldiers look at him in shock as he starts getting his fists ready while smiling from ear to ear. "And this time you're not gonna get away with it."

Kuromarimo starts glaring at him as he gets in a stance. "How dare you hurt Lord Wapol?! Don't you know he's the king?!"

Chess nods as he points to his shell shocked king. "That's right; he's the leader of this country! Fighting against him means certain death!"

Luffy sticks his tongue out in response. "So what if he's a king? I still hate all of you!"

Rose holds back from chuckling at Luffy's childish antics while Dr. Kureha looks at them in confusion. "Wait, you guys know them?"

Luffy nods as he points to them. "Yea, they're a bunch of annoying pirates who tried to stop us from coming here. That metal guy even tried to eat my ship. This time I'm going to beat the crap out of them!"

Sanji puffs out a smoke from his cigarette before quirking an eyebrow at Luffy's attire. "I'm all for beating the shit out of these bastards, but aren't you cold in that?"

Luffy tilts his head in confusion before he looks at his clothes then looks at Wapol in shock. "Wait, they said that he's a king?! They're not pirates?!"

Kuromarimo looks at him in utter shock. "You just realized that he's a king?!"

Luffy ignores him and starts shivering. "It's cold!"

Sanji groans at his captain's ignorance. "That's what I was asking about!"

Chopper looks at him in confusion. "How can you just notice that it's cold out here?"

Chess was completely slack jawed at the group that's ignoring them. "Now they're just insulting us!"

"AAH!" Chess and Kuromarimo turn at their leader's voice in shock to see their king suddenly standing up. "Your Majesty!"

Wapol starts panting before he coughs up some blood. "You really made me mad now. I'm going to-." He blinks in confusion when he sees that Luffy's not with the group anymore. "WHERE DID HE GO?!"

Sanji casually points to the castle. "Just wait a second. He went inside to get a jacket."

He could only stare at them in shock while Chopper turns to Rose. "So that guy was the devil fruit user?"

Rose nods with a smile. "Yup, if I remember correctly he ate the gum gum fruit."

"The gum gum fruit?"

Sanji nods before he puffs a smoke from his cigarette. "That's right, that fruit turned him into a rubber man."

Chopper turns to him in confusion. "A rubber man? What does that mean?"

Sanji could only smile at the question. "It means that he's a monster."

Chopper could only stand there and be speechless at the answer. *They really are ok with monsters...*

Wapol scoffs at the group as he glares at them. "You know men, this is perfect. Everyone who's been opposing me all this time are all here. If we take care of them here and now there will be no one left to stop us from rebuilding my empire."

Chess nods as he gets his bow and arrows ready. "You're right Lord Wapol. Please step back while we take care of them."

Wapol complies to the request as he steps back with his arms crossed. "Very well, they're all yours, but the Straw Hat's mine."

Kuromarimo nods as he gets his boxing gloves up and smirks at the elderly woman. "I don't know what you were thinking before Dr. Kureha, but you got some guts for taking over the castle."

Dr. Kureha chuckles as she crosses her arms over her chest. "I actually don't want to live in a big castle like this, but this guy wants to stay here."

Chopper starts transforming into heavy point while she keeps explaining. "No matter how hard I try to convince him to leave, he insists on staying with the notion that this is Hiruluk's tomb."

Chess looks at the humanoid reindeer in shock when he recognizes him. "Lord Wapol, that's the monster that followed Hiruluk!"

Wapol widens his eyes at the large reindeer man. "You're right!"

Chopper clenches his fists at the ruthless men as he glares at them. "Doctor only wanted to help his country. This castle is his tomb and that flag is a symbol of his faith. There's no way I'm letting you into the castle and I won't let you take his flag down!"

Rose looks up at the flag and stares at it with a soft look on her face. *Protecting Hiruluk's grave huh? Can't think of any better reason to fight.*

She snaps out of her trance to Wapol's laughing which makes her glare at him.

"Hahaha, if you wanted to die that much then you should've-!" He was cut off when he was suddenly lifted into the air and slammed down on his back.

Wapol starts growling as he gets up and glares at Rose. "I'll make sure you get the worst death of them all!"

The brunette chuckles at the threat then starts smirking. "I'd like to see you try."

Sanji starts glaring at the king. "I'll kick your ass for threatening a lady. Are you going to fight too old lady?"

Dr. Kureha whacks him on the head for being called old before she steps back. "I'll lend a hand if you're in trouble."

Sanji groans as he cradles the newfound lump on his head. "Thanks…"

Kuromarimo glares at them as he gets his fists ready. "You disrespect this palace then you won't fight? You'll die first! Kuromarimo Static!"

He throws a fist in Dr. Kureha's direction causing a black hairball to go flying towards her, but before it reaches her Sanji blocks it with his leg. "Hey afro boy, a real man doesn't throw stuff at a lady."

The elderly doctor smiles at this. "Finally learning some manners are you?"

Kuromarimo smirks at the block. "Looks like you've fallen into my trap."

Rose widens her eyes at the hairball when she sees Sanji trying to shake it off. *Shit, the static!*

Sanji groans in frustration as he tries to shake the hairball off his leg, but it won't come off. "What the hell?! I can't get it off!"

Kuromarimo snickers as he starts getting more hairballs off his afro. "Why don't you have some more static?" He starts throwing more of them at Sanji while he's trying to shake it off.

However, Rose rushes in front of him and manages to create a gust of wind to block the hairballs and throw them back at them. "Taste this!"

Kuromarimo, Chess and Wapol widen their eyes at the return fire as they jump to the side to dodge the flying hairballs.

"I'll teach you brat!" Kuromarimo starts firing as many hairballs as he can at Rose while she keeps blocking them off with her wind.

Kuromarimo used the distraction to run in front of her and tried to punch her, but she side stepped to dodge and gave him a left hook to the nose. Kuromarimo growls as he continues his barrage of punches along with Rose.

Sanji keeps trying to shake it off, but without any luck. "Dammit, why won't it come off?! Don't just stand there and watch reindeer! Help me out!"

Chopper widens his eyes at the command before he runs up to him. "Right!"

He tries to get it off him, but it gets stuck on his furry arm, which makes him to flail his arms around. "Ahh! It's stuck on me now! I don't want it, take it back!"

He sticks it on Sanji's arm causing him to flail his arm to stick it back on him. "No way! It's just a ball, why don't you take it?!"

"If it's not a big deal then you just keep it!"

Dr. Kureha sweat drops at the childish argument she's watching. "What are they doing?"

Chess chuckles at that as he gets his flaming arrow ready to fire. "Your teamwork is pretty pathetic. Want to know a secret? That little ball can easily catch fire!"

Chopper and Sanji widen their eyes as they stop arguing and stare at the arrow. Chopper sticks the ball back on Sanji before running away. "Bait Plan!"

Sanji looks at him in shock as he tries to get the ball off. "You're going to use me as bait?!" He looks to see that the arrow was fired at him causing him to jump to the side to dodge.

Rose widens her eyes as she remembers what happens next before she got punched in the face by Kuromarimo. Before he could hit her again, she uses her wind to skyrocket him twenty feet into the air then starts flying towards Chess.

Chess gets another arrow ready for Sanji who's brushing his arm on the snow to get the hairball off when Chopper starts running up to him from the side and gets ready to backhand him. "Get out of here!"

Chess widens his eyes as he's about to get hit when Wapol appears out of nowhere in front of Chess with his mouth wide open. "Out of the way Chess!"

He goes to take a bite into Chopper when Rose pushes the reindeer out of the way and had her top half bitten, but his teeth only phased through her so that he only eats the air.

Rose pushes herself out of the mouth, and takes a step back from him to look at the king in pure disgust as she remembers the inside of his mouth. *This guy needs to brush his teeth more, his breath almost made me puke… Wait, I flew when I actually wanted to?! AWESOME!*

Rose pumps her fists in excitement while Chopper looks at her in shock. "Are you ok Rose?!"

She nods at him with a smile. "Yea, I'm good."

"You ruined my meals for the last time! You're both dead!" Wapol tries to take a bite into her again but she quickly dodges along with Chopper.

Sanji grits his teeth at the sight of Wapol trying to eat them, as he goes to join the fray, when Luffy runs outside in Nami's beige and red striped jacket. "Man, this is warm."

The chef looks back at Luffy and lifts his right leg up. "Luffy, grab my leg!"

Luffy looks at him in confusion but still stretches his arms back. "Your leg?! Ok!" He stretches his arm forward to grab onto his leg. "Like this right?"

"Yea, just like that!" He moves his leg and kicks it at Wapol's direction as hard as he can. "Rubber Shot Air Force!"

Luffy lets go of the leg to slingshot himself towards Wapol, who stopped himself from trying to eat the two people in front of him, to see the flying rubber man who's spinning to increase his power.

Rose widens her eyes when she sees Luffy flying in their direction, then picks Chopper up, and jumps out of the way just before Luffy flew straight at Wapol's stomach. Wapol was sent flying straight back while Luffy falls off of him to see that the king flew straight back into his hippo, that makes the poor animal take the rest of the force, and sent flying straight off the mountain.

Kuromarimo landed on his back right next to Chess who's staring at the group in utter horror. *Who the hell are these guys?!*

Rose runs back to Luffy and Sanji, sets Chopper down and turns to the boys with a large smile. "Thanks for the help. That move was awesome."

Chopper nods. "Yea, thank you. You guys are really strong."

Luffy nods before looking out at the forest. "Where did the hippo fly off to?"

Sanji shrugs before he gets a closer look at Luffy and sees that he's wearing Nami's jacket. "Hey Luffy, isn't that Nami's jacket?!"

"Yea so?"

"Take it off! You'll ruin it!"

Rose looks at the angry chef in confusion. "What's the big deal? We switched coats after the avalanche."

Sanji freezes at the comment before looks at her in utter shock. "We did what?!"

He starts thinking about Rose wearing his coat to the point where he starts fantasizing her shyly wearing it with a cute blush decorating her freckled cheeks. Hearts start forming in his eyes at the image that he can only see. "Aww, that's so cute~"

The hearts in his eyes break when he realizes that he missed it, so tears start filling them up. "Why do I always miss the good parts?!"

Rose face palms at Sanji's dramatics. *I swear he's almost as big of a pervert as Jiraiya. I don't even want to guess what he's imagining…*

Chopper looks at the chef in confusion while Luffy laughs at the blond's mood swings.

Kuromarimo gets up to see his unconscious king lying on the ground then goes up to him. "Are you ok Lord Wapol?!"

Chess looks down at his king apologetically. "We're so sorry, we underestimated them!"

Wapol groans as he starts waking up. "I'll kill them all…"

The servants step back as Wapol furiously sits up. "Men, let's show them the Chomp Chomp Factory!"

The group stops their conversation to see Wapol getting up.

Luffy blinks in surprise at the king's endurance. "He can still stand? He must be pretty strong."

Wapol growls at the pirates before he turns to Chess. "Chess, tell me what my menu was this morning."

The jester nods as he grabs a menu from his bag. "Yes sire, you had one baked cannon, one fresh cannon, and cannon balls salad with gun powder. Also, you ate a restaurant in the village."

Rose looks at the fake pirates in utter shock of what he ate today. *No wonder his breath stunk!*

Luffy sweat drops at the menu. "What a weird breakfast."

Sanji slowly nods as he stares at him. "There's nothing weirder than that."

Wapol ignores the comments as he smirks at them. "Take a good look at my power after I ate my breakfast."

Everyone, but his two servants, widen their eyes when they see his body starting to change. "Those things that I ate this morning have already been digested and became a part of my body. Munch Munch Shock Wapol House!"

Once his transformation completed, they all gape at the king to see that most of his body has turned into a small house, with his face showing at the top of it, and both of his arms have turned into cannons.

Sanji's cigarette fell out of his mouth as he stared at him. "He turned into a house?!"

Luffy was the only one that's looking at him in awe. "That's so cool!"

Wapol snickers at their reactions. "It's too soon to be surprised."

Everyone looks at him in confusion until he grabs his two servants and eats them.

"AAH!" Kuromarimo and Chess barely fought back as Wapol chewed them up and swallowed them.

Rose wanted to look away from the sickening sight in front of her, but she just couldn't. *This son of a bitch actually did it… He ate his servants to combine them… He's so gross…*

Chopper and Sanji were speechless at the display while Luffy was slack jawed. "He's eating his crew!"

Smoke starts flaring out of Wapol's cannon arms as he glares at the group. "Take a good look at what combined bodies can do?"

Chopper looks at him in confusion. "Combined bodies?"

The door on Wapol's body opened with a body coming out. "Hahaha, we're the strongest fighter in the kingdom!"

The group widens their eyes at Chess and Kuromarimo's combined voices as a body comes out to show Kuromarimo's and Chess' bodies have combined with Kuromarimo's head and arms on top of Chess'. "Say hello to Chessmarimo!"

Sanji sweat drops at the view in front of him. "Didn't the afro boy just sit on top of the jester?"

"Pretty much." Rose says while Luffy looks at the body with stars in his eyes.

"That's awesome!"

Sanji turns to him in irritation. "What part of that is awesome?!"

Dr. Kureha turns to them while she stays back. "You'd better not underestimate them."

Rose and Sanji turn to her while she continues. "If they were weak, then the villagers would have chased them out of here when they came back."

Wapol nods at the explanation. "At least you have that sense Dr. Kureha. After all, the first rule in my country is that whoever dares to defy the king must die. I am everything to this empire because this empire belongs to me, and so does this castle."

Everyone widens their eyes when Wapol suddenly raises his arms up and fire his cannons at the pirate flag. "That means I won't allow anyone to put up a stupid flag that belongs to that crazy doctor on the top of my palace! It only makes this place worthless!"

Rose tries to stop the cannon, but she her wind was neither quick nor strong enough to stop the cannon ball from blasting the flagpole off the castle. "Shit!"

She manages to create a gust to catch the falling flag before it completely fell off the castle. As she's keeping the flag in view, she starts baring her teeth as she glares at Wapol while air starts blowing out of her. *He's lucky that the flag comes first right now or I'd beat the living shit out of him!*

Sanji, who was standing the closest to Rose, turns to her in shock when he starts feeling a gust of wind that's as hot as humanly possible coming out of her. He silently looks down to see that the hot air starting to melt the snow under her just before it dies down. *She can produce hot air?*

Chopper could only stare at the flying flag in horror while Luffy looks up at the flag for the first time. "A pirate flag?" He sees Chopper staring at the flag with a dead look in his eyes, before he understands the situation and turns to Rose. "Rose, keep the flag up there for me."

Rose nods while she keeps her angry purple eyes on the flag so that it doesn't fall. "Got it." She keeps it flying up for Luffy as he starts scaling the castle when Chopper starts yelling at Wapol.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO DOCTOR'S FLAG?!"

Wapol chuckles as the reindeer's distress. "Didn't I already tell you why? It makes the castle worthless. Kill him men."

Chessmarimo nods as they crack their knuckles. "Yes sir!"

Chopper charges at Wapol, but Chessmarimo block his path, but he dodges by going into brain point to run under them. He changes back into heavy point to jump onto Wapol so that he's face to face with him.

"Doctor… Doctor even thought about saving your life! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!" Wapol braces himself for the punch Chopper was about to give him, but he stopped himself. "I won't hurt you, so get out of this country!"

Wapol looks at him in confusion. "Huh?"

*Chopper…* Rose looks at him softly as she gives the flag to Luffy after he made it to the top.

Dr. Kureha glares at Chopper's merciful attitude. "What are you saying Chopper?! He won't leave just because you gave him mercy!"

Chopper turns to her with a distressed look on his face. "But…"

Wapol smirks at the defenseless reindeer as he gets his cannon ready for Chopper. Before he can hit the reindeer though, Rose uses her wind to lift Wapol up five feet into the air while Chopper quickly jumps off.

"You son of a bitch!" Rose slams him on his head as hard as she could while everyone looks at her in shock.

Wapol slowly gets up and glares at the girl who's running up to him, but Chessmarimo blocks her.

"Don't think I'll stand by while you attack my king!"

Rose goes to punch him, but stops when she starts hearing Luffy yelling. "HEY BIG MOUTH!"

Everyone looks up see that Luffy had broken a sleeve off his jacket to tie the flag back onto the top of the castle. He stands the flag up with pride before he glares down at Wapol and his men. "YOU'RE JUST A BUNCH OF FRAUDS! YOU BECAME PIRATES WITHOUT PREPARING TO RISK YOUR LIVES! YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE REAL MEANING OF THIS FLAG!"

Chopper looks up at the man who fixed Dr. Hiruluk's symbol in awe. "He fixed the flag?"

Wapol quirks an eyebrow at the statement. "What's so important about that stupid flag anyway? It's just a stupid decoration for pirates!"

Luffy grips onto the flagpole tightly to hold back some of his anger. "THAT'S WHY YOU'RE A WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP!"

Wapol narrows his eyes at the insult. "What did you say?"

"THIS FLAG IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN JUST PLAY WITH!"

Wapol begins to growl as he gets his cannons ready. "You fool, why would a king play with that stupid flag anyway?! And who told you to put it up again?! DIDN'T I TELL YOU THAT THIS COUNTRY BELONGS TO ME?! IF YOU INSIST ON PUTTING THE FLAG UP THERE THEN I'LL JUST DESTROY IT COMPLETELY!" He fires the cannons at the flag again before anyone can react.

Sanji widens his eyes at the cannon shot. "Damn, he used the cannon again!"

Rose tries to pull the cannon back with her wind, but she growls in frustration when she sees that it's not working.

Chopper looks up in shock to see that Luffy's not moving. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Luffy ignores Chopper's order as he stays with the flag. "What makes you think this flag can be destroyed?! It's a symbol of faith!"

He takes the blow from the cannon causing everyone to look up in shock as the smoke covers the top of the castle.

"LUFFY!" Sanji yells up to his captain when the smoke begins to clear to see that the captain still standing after taking the blow with the flag still in his hand.

Chopper widens his eyes at the sight as Luffy grips onto the flag. "See? This flag will never be broken."

Rose widens her eyes at the amazing sight of Luffy proudly standing to protect the pirate symbol. All she can do is stare up at him in awe of how determined he is to protect what's important to his friends no matter what it takes. "Wow…" *The anime and the manga were only able to show a fraction of how amazing this sight is...*

Chessmarimo looks at stubborn him in utter shock. "That guy's insane!"

Luffy makes sure that the flag can stand on its own before he looks down at them. "I don't know whose pirate flag this is, but this is a promise for life! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO DESTROY THIS FLAG AND LAUGH ABOUT IT!"

Chessmarimo and Wapol step back in fear of Luffy's glare while Chopper continues to stare at the inspiring pirate captain. *Pirates really are great.*

"Hey, Chopper!" The humanoid reindeer snaps out of his trance to see Luffy smiling down at him. "I'm going to beat them up really soon! What are you going to do?"

Chopper looks at him in confusion. "Me?"

Wapol grits his teeth before getting the cannons ready again. "You idiots! If you really want to protect that stupid flag then I'll destroy you both!"

Rose glares at him, but before she could attack him she had to dodge Chessmarimo's punch. "Did you forget about us?!"

The wind girl grits her teeth as she dodges his attacks and starts fighting hand to hand with the combined man.

Sanji however, glares at the king as he gets ready to charge him. "That's enough!" He starts running to Wapol before he collapses after a sharp pain goes up his spine.

Dr. Kureha looks at the fallen pirate in confusion. "He dislocated his spine? Looks like he overdid it with that kick from earlier."

She kicks Sanji's back as hard as she can to put his spine back into place while she ignores his screams of pain. "AAH! DOCTOR STOP!" He falls unconscious from the pain while Wapol laughs at his suffering.

"Hahaha, serves you right blondie! I'll take care of you next!"

Chessmarimo jumps back to dodge Rose's kick then looks at Wapol in shock to see Chopper charging at him. "Lord Wapol, look out!" He runs to try to help his king, but Rose pulls him back with her wind and throws him at the castle wall.

Wapol looks at them in confusion only for Chopper to punch him in the gut. "THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Wapol coughs up some blood as he stumbles back but remains standing.

Luffy starts to smirk at the sight. "That's right, let's beat them up Chopper!"

Dr. Kureha begins to smirk at the reindeer's newfound strength as she towers over the unconscious chef. "You've finally shown your courage huh Chopper?"

Rose grinned at the sight when Chessmarimo recovered, came up at her from behind and punched her in the head to slam her down before he blocked Chopper's path to Wapol. "I won't let you lay another finger on Lord Wapol!"

Chopper goes into brain point while he continues ranting. "You're the snow monster that the villagers talk about right? What a pathetic loser you are! You don't have a single friend in this place, so why do you bother to help this country?!"

Rose glares at the antagonizing man as she struggles to get up when Chopper speaks up.

"Shut up! Even though I don't have anyone I'll continue to fight as long as Doctor's flag is still-!"

"HEY, WHO SAID THAT HE DOESN'T HAVE ANYONE?!" Everyone looks up to see Luffy ready to slingshot him down to where they were by pulling on the nearby roof. He pulls his arms to slingshot himself down. "HE HAS ME! I'M HIS FRIEND!"

He slingshots himself down at Chessmarimo and Wapol and send them flying from the blow.

Chopper stares at the collapsed captain in shock. "Are you ok?!"

Luffy nods with a toothy grin as he gets up. "I'm fine, my body's rubber."

"Oh right."

Luffy grins before pointing to Chessmarimo. "Hey Chopper, do you think you can take care of that guy?"

Chopper nods as he glares at the servant. "He's just a weakling to me."

Luffy smirks at the answer as he cracks his knuckles and gets ready to face the king. "It's a deal then."

Rose softly grins at the display of friendship, then slowly stands up, and picks Sanji up with her wind. "Dr. Kureha, I'm gonna take this guy to the infirmary. Got any objections?"

Dr. Kureha nods as she steps away from the flying boy. "No problem at all. I'll follow in after they're done."

Rose nods as she takes Sanji inside while Luffy and Chopper get ready for the fight of their lives against Wapol and Chessmarimo.

TO BE CONTINUED