Chapter Text
When Chopper first decided to come along with the Straw Hats, he had already learned how excitement and adventure went hand and hand when it came to their captain, Luffy, and today was no exception.
“You’re a fool if you think you’ll lay a hand on our flag!” Luffy shouted. They had been sailing the Thousand Sunny for the past week without a single bit of drama. The seas were calm, the crew in good spirits, until the strange ship before them had breached the surface of the water like a massive whale. A tattered Jolly Roger hung from their dripping mast: a grinning skull adorned with a sea star on top. A crew of about three dozen fishmen lined the deck, but a thick and towering man shoved his way forward from the crowd. A large purple starfish sat stuck to the side of his bald head, one wiggling arm wrapping its way across one eye, down his nose, and curling into his dripping wet mustache.
“Get a load of this guy,” Franky said.
“Why do we always get interrupted by weirdos?” Nami asked, crossing her arms.
“Monkey D. Luffy!” the man shouted. “Show yourself!”
“What the hell do you want, old man?!” Luffy yelled back. “I was just about to eat lunch!”
“I am Captain Star Commander of the infamous Nautilus Pirate Crew!”
“Well, I’ve never heard of you.”
Star Commander’s face fell into a scowl. “That’s of no concern to me, for I am well aware of who you are Monkey D. Luffy, and today we are going to be taking your head! And while we’re at it, we might as well take your Jolly Roger with us as a souvenir.”
“You’re a fool if you think you’ll lay a hand on our flag!” Luffy shouted. Chopper was not surprised to notice how Luffy didn’t seem to care about the first part of their threat. Death threats were far too common by now.
Sanji stepped up beside Chopper and lit a cigarette. “Another day, another bunch of idiots to beat up.”
“Just when I was starting to get bored too,” Zoro replied. He was already taking his bandana off his bicep and wrapping it around his brow.
“I don’t know,” Chopper said, twisting his hooves nervously. “These guys look pretty big.”
Sanji reached down and patted the top of Chopper’s head, which Chopper took as an invitation to hide behind his long legs.
“Don’t sweat it,” Sanji reassured. “These are just some small fry pirates hoping to make a quick buck off of Luffy’s bounty.”
“It’ll probably get more common from here on out too,” Zoro said. “With the amount on Luffy’s head, I don’t really blame them.”
“Maybe Luffy can defuse the situation,” Chopper offered, but it was already too late.
“ATTACK MEN!” Star Commander hollered, and his horde of fishmen answered with battle cries. Luffy screamed back, launching himself over towards the enemy’s ship, and Zoro was right on his heels. Fishmen threw hooks and ropes, trying to board the ship. Brook however was laughing his bony head off, sword drawn from his cane, and he and Franky were side by side, taking out fishmen left and right before they had the chance to board. Perhaps even more terrifying, Robin was gently smiling, not phased in the least as she used her devil fruit powers to clutch a dozen men at a time in her inescapable grip and contort them into new bone-crunching positions.
Even Nami and Sanji were happily picking off the miscellaneous pirate that wormed his way to the upper deck. Maybe Sanji had been right after all. The fishmen had numbers over them, but they seemed to be no match for their crew. Just a bunch of small fries. Chopper didn’t think he was even going to need to use a rumble ball.
“AAAAHHH!” Luffy suddenly screamed, and he was flying through the air, caught in a flying fish net. Star Commander belly laughed, holding the net gun triumphantly. Like a cannonball, Luffy hit the ocean and got out one gurgled scream before the weighted net began to drag him down. Chopper bolted over to the railing, but Luffy was already just a dark shape sinking under the surface.
“What the hell was that?” Sanji asked, just a few feet away.
“It was Luffy!” Chopper yelled. “He’s going to drown!”
“Oh geez. Alright. I’ll fish him out.”
“Be careful, Sanji!”
Without missing a beat, Sanji dove off the side of the ship. Chopper so badly wished he could jump over and help, but with his devil fruit powers he was absolutely useless in the water as well.
Five seconds crept by. Then five became fifteen, then thirty, then a whole minute. The battle cries of fishmen were dwindling away. Zoro came leaping back over, all blades drawn and wado ichimonji clenched between his teeth. Chopper glanced over to the Nautilus pirate’s ship, and on the main deck lay an un-moving Star Commander. His purple sea star was crawling across the deck toward the edge of the ship before it dropped into the ocean.
“What a joke that guy was,” Zoro said, sheathing his swords.
Nami used her Clima-tact to zap a rogue fishman and send him sizzling into the water. “Did I hear Luffy scream just now?” she asked.
Chopper bounced up and down at the railing, pointing to the waves. “He’s down there, caught in a net! Sanji went in after him, but they haven’t come back up!”
“What?” Zoro asked. “How long ago?”
“Two minutes now? Maybe three?” How fast was time moving? Or was it going very slow? Sanji was the best swimmer they had on the crew, but anything could be happening down there and Chopper would never know.
Zoro withdrew his swords again. “Hold on. I’ll get them.”
Over the side he went, and Nami joined Chopper at the railing. Every second felt excruciating as it ticked by. How long could Luffy and Sanji hold their breaths? Had it been three minutes or four? Chopper hadn’t realized he had been holding his own breath until Zoro popped back up at the surface, Luffy in one arm and Sanji in the other. Robin sent a line of hands down to help pull them all back onto the main deck and Chopper ran down the stairs to them.
“What the hell happened?” Franky asked. He was slapping Luffy on the back, but Luffy was already getting to his feet as he hacked out a gulp of water.
“Sharks!” he gasped.
Zoro nodded, panting but seemingly unharmed. “That weirdo had a pack of armor-plated sharks down there waiting to attack.”
Sanji was slower to move, and Chopper ran up to him. He was having trouble coughing out the water stuck in his throat. He was clutching one hand around his ribs, grimacing as he tried to catch his breath.
“Sanji! Are you alright? Is your side hurt?”
Sanji tried to put a hand up in reassurance, but Chopper had seen many broken ribs in his day and was willing to bet fifty berries that Sanji had broken at least one by the way he was holding his side and wheezing.
“Assholes… just got… the jump on me,” he panted.
“Can you breathe?”
“Yeah… I just need a second.”
“You should let me look at you,” Chopper said, lending a hand as Sanji tried to stand up.
“No, no I’m fine.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer, and that’s final.”
Nami stepped forward and put a hand on Sanji’s arm. “You should really let him look you over.”
“Well, how can I say no to you, Nami-swan. Whatever you want.”
“Good, let’s go,” Chopper said. The battle was over and thank goodness everyone was alive, but a doctor’s job was never done when he had crew-mates and patients to protect and patch up.
*~*~*~*
Chopper’s suspicions were confirmed downstairs in his doctor’s office. Peeling the shirt off Sanji unveiled a painting of black and blue bruises to the left side of his ribs. Two were easily fractured, and maybe another two seriously bruised, but that was the extent of the damage and the bones would heal naturally on their own. Chopper still made sure to apply one of his healing salves to the stretch of ribs as gently as he could before wrapping his torso up tightly in bandages. The pressure would be very uncomfortable, but needed, and yet Sanji was one of Chopper’s best patients. Far better than Luffy and Zoro, that was for sure.
“Thanks, doc. It’s nice having your expertise onboard,” he even said once Chopper had him finally wrapped up, a dry shirt draped over his shoulders. Chopper couldn’t help but wiggle at the kind words.
“It’s just my job, dummy. Compliments aren’t going to make me blush or anything like that, silly.”
Sanji smiled, eyes looking tired, but it was going to be a very painful week or two while his ribs healed.
The peace and quiet was shattered by loud banging on Chopper’s office door.
“Chopper?!” Zoro yelled outside. “Open the door.”
“Oh boy,” Sanji sighed.
Chopper hopped down off the side of the bed. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him.”
He cracked the door open and there was Zoro, brow furrowed and arms crossed. He looked spooky, but Chopper didn’t open the door more than an inch.
“Chopper, let me in.”
“I’m with my patient, and he needs to rest so he can heal. You’ll have to come back later.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Zoro retorted.
“I’m the doctor, so I make the–”
“It was ME who dragged the Cook’s dumb ass out of the water. I have every right to find out what’s going on!”
“It’s alright, Chopper,” Sanji sighed. “You can let the Mossball in.”
Zoro hardly waited for Chopper to open the door before he was pushing in.
“What the hell were you thinking? Do you have some stupid death wish or something?”
“I had things covered, jerk. Just because it was taking me a little longer than normal, it doesn’t mean that I needed your help.”
“You can sass me all you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that you two would have been toast if I hadn’t jumped in!”
Chopper ran over to the doorway, peeking one eye behind the frame. He really hated when the crew fought, especially Sanji and Zoro. They never seemed to tire of snapping at each other. Once they started, it could take hours before something else distracted them, and unfortunately Zoro looked like he was in a more terrible mood than usual. Perhaps Chopper should go run and get Nami. She was the only one who could knock some sense into them when it got too heated.
“I don’t know why you’re bitching so hard about this, Swordsman. You want me to say ‘thank you’? Well, thanks, moron.”
“God, you still don’t fucking get it, do you?” Zoro growled in frustration. He leaned down, fisting the lapels of Sanji’s shirt, before he smashed his lips to Sanji’s.
WAAAAAAAAH?!
The kiss was tense and awkward, just a stiff pressing of angry lips together, but Chopper felt transfixed to his spot during the strangely long length of Zoro’s outburst. When he let go of Sanji’s shirt and pulled away, there was a blush spreading furiously across Sanji’s cheeks and down his neck.
“Just don’t be so reckless next time, otherwise I’m going to kick your ass worse than anyone,” Zoro said, looking away toward the wall.
Sanji blinked at him, wordlessly, before frowning.
“Next time, I guarantee that you’ll be the one who needs MY help! You don’t get to walk around here all high and mighty because you took down one measly shark.”
“It was like ten sharks!”
Yeah, Chopper decided it was about time to go grab Nami. It was strange though… that kiss had been so quick, and the two of them had already glazed over it like nothing weird had happened at all.
Even so, Chopper had an inkling that he had just seen something of particular importance.