Work Text:
Chopper was exhausted. Thriller Bark had been… an ordeal. By the time Chopper had gotten his hooves on Zoro, he’d been at death’s door. But Brook was beyond it, which was why Chopper picked himself up again after Zoro’s treatment was finished.
Chopper had treated the rest of the Straw Hats first, the ones within arm’s reach. But he’d mostly been working on Zoro since waking up. Thankfully, most of the Straw Hat’s injuries had been minor enough that they didn’t need Chopper’s help and the Thriller Bark Victim’s Association had been able to take care of each other.
But with all that behind him, Chopper realized he hadn’t seen Brook get treated at any point. In fact, he hadn’t seen Brook in a while.
So, Chopper pushed his exhaustion to the side, picked up his medical bag, and went to find him.
Brook wasn’t hard to find, thankfully. Chopper found him within ear shot of the group, watching the sunrise. Brook’s back was to some rubble; he seemed to be leaning on it. And he was holding… is that his own rib?!
Exhaustion momentarily forgotten, Chopper rushed to Brook’s side. “Brook, are you okay?!?”
Brook startled. “Oh! Why, hello. Is Zoro doing okay?” His voice was soft, distracted. As if he wasn’t holding his own rib.
“Zoro’s gonna be okay,” Chopper said in a rush. “But what about you? Is that your rib??”
Brook hummed and tilted his head, as if confused by the question. “Oh, this?” He said after a few moments, lifting the hand that contained what was undoubtedly a human rib. “Yes, it’s mine. The strain from the battle cracked it. I think the explosion was what made it break off. Not to worry though, I can reattach it with bandages and it’ll heal itself eventually.” Brook’s gaze went back to the sunrise, as if he hadn’t dropped information Chopper considered a bombshell. “The sunrise is beautiful, isn’t it? Just as beautiful as I remember it…”
It took Chopper a moment for the meaning of the words to register. But once they did, his hanging jaw snapped shut as a pang went through his heart. Right, he’s been in the fog for decades. I wonder when the last time is he saw a sunrise…
Chopper shook his head, pushing the painful thoughts away. He was there to do a job, that other stuff would have to be processed later. After a nap. And maybe a snack.
“Okay, sit down then.”
“Hm?” Brook’s gaze drifted in Chopper’s direction.
“Sit down. I got bandages right here; I’ll help you reattach it.”
“Oh…” Understanding flooded Brook’s voice, and he smiled lightly. “Thank you, Chopper. You don’t have to do that, though. I’m sure you’re exhausted. Besides, I imagine working on a corpse is the last thing you’d like to do right now.” He gestured at the general island with the hand containing his rib. “You’ve probably had enough corpses for a lifetime here,” He mumbled distractedly.
“Everyone’s exhausted, including you, I’m sure.” Chopper said. “So don’t make this harder by arguing with me and just sit down.”
To Chopper’s surprise, Brook sat. He didn’t even make Chopper run through arguments of why he should let Chopper help. Chopper breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, some competence.
Chopper opened up his bag. “Do you know the extent of the damage?”
Brook hummed, one of his hands drumming against his leg. “A few cracked ribs, the crack in my skull grew larger, and hm… oh, yes. The disconnected rib.”
“Okay, I can help with that.” Chopper pulled out his bandages and approached Brook, then he stopped. He had a question; one he should have asked earlier. He blamed his tiredness for not thinking of it. “Are you in any pain? Do you need some pain medicine?”
Brook’s fingers continued drumming, but for a long many moments he did not answer. Chopper was starting to think that Brook somehow hadn’t heard him when Brook finally opened his mouth to speak. “I’m not sure... I don’t think so? It might just be a mental thing...”
Chopper lowered the bandages. “If you’re in pain I want to know, imagined or not.”
Brook hummed. “Maybe, then. But it isn’t bad. I don’t need medication at least.”
“Okay.” Chopper started forward again. “Let me know if I’m hurting you or if you change your mind though, okay?”
Brook hummed an affirmative.
Chopper had to practically crawl into Brook’s lap to get full access to his ribs. Brook didn’t seem to mind though, his gaze had gone back to the sun, and he was humming softly.
Chopper was very careful, despite the fact that Brook didn’t act like he was in great pain. He didn’t want to make things worse. It was pretty easy though, working on bones without having to worry about the things usually surrounding them.
The cracked ribs were bandaged up easily. Chopper had half of them done when he noticed Brook’s gaze was on him. “Is everything okay?” Chopper asked.
Brook startled lightly, as if he hadn’t expected Chopper to speak. “Sorry. Yes, I’m fine. It’s just… been a while.” Brook trailed off.
‘Since I’ve had someone else bandaging my wounds,’ Chopper’s head filled in.
Right. The fifty years thing. Chopper shuddered lightly. He couldn’t even imagine being fifty years old, much less being alone for that long. Chopper knew how hard loneliness had been on him in the past, in the time between his herd and the Doctor. He couldn’t imagine that length of time stretched so far.
“Well, you have it now.” Chopper said quietly. He went back to bandaging Brook’s ribs. “And you’ll have it for a long time too, Luffy wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Brook was still and quiet. It felt unnatural. Chopper hadn’t known Brook for long, but despite him being dead Chopper had only really seen him full of life and noise. Always moving.
“Do you think he still wants me?” Brook’s voice broke the silence. It was soft, quiet.
Chopper blinked. Still want him? Chopper chuckled, remembering Luffy’s determination before storming Thriller Bark. “Luffy? Yeah, he does. Trust me.”
Brook tilted his head.
Chopper grinned. “When he wanted me to join his crew, I told him no. And he chased me for hours until I gave in.”
“Oh my...”
“Luffy knows what he wants.” Chopper finished the last of Brook’s cracked ribs. “You will come with us, won’t you? Now that you have your shadow back?”
There was a brief pause. “My shadow wasn’t the only problem…” Brook confessed.
Chopper knew. Franky had told them about Laboon. That was the moment Brook had earned Chopper’s trust. When Chopper had decided maybe Brook wasn’t so scary after all.
Chopper wasn’t very old, but he’d seen much cruelty in the few years he had. Sometimes pointed at him, sometimes at others. But he’d noticed that it was most often pointed at those considered weaker or different. Chopper had seen his fair share of animal cruelty.
But he’d seen human kindness as well. Doctor had been kind to him. Doctorine had… well, she’d been mean with love. Like Nami.
For Brook to survive so long, a length of time Chopper couldn’t properly fathom, over a promise made to whale? Instant respect. Brook was a kind human; such actions couldn’t lead to any other conclusion.
Chopper didn’t say any of that to Brook, though. Unlike Luffy, Chopper had never met Laboon, and felt that might be a topic better suited to someone who knew the situation better than he did.
“Could you hand me your rib?”
“Oh, yes. Sorry.”
Chopper put his full focus on bandaging Brook’s rib back into place. He wanted it to heal correctly... however that worked. I should probably ask later, when I’m less tired…
After a couple minutes filled only with the rhythmic tapping of Brook’s hands upon stone, Chopper finished Brook’s rib. This should heal correctly, I guess. Assuming Brook was right about how he heals.
Chopper shook his head. Working on a skeleton is so weird, guess I better get used to it though. He had no doubt Luffy would be able to convince Brook to join them. He’d seen crazier things.
Chopper backed away from Brook’s ribcage. “I’m ready for your head now. Could you lift me up?”
“I can.” Brook was very gentle. “Is this okay? I’m not hurting you?”
“No, I’m good.” Chopper got to work bandaging Brook’s head. He did his best to be careful, the cracks in Brook’s head were… not great. But if Brook was correct about how his healing worked, then bandaging the biggest crack to keep his head in place would be enough. Hopefully.
“You’re sure you’ll heal up correctly? Even with all these cracks?” Chopper couldn’t help the concern in his voice. He was too tired to mask it.
Brook chuckled softly, somehow without moving his head. “As long as everything’s in its correct place then yes, it will. I broke a lot of bones last time I was here, and have broken an embarrassing number by, er- being distracted, while stuck in the Florian Triangle.” Brook’s voice petered out a bit at the end, but he picked back up a moment later with a voice Chopper was pretty sure was supposed to be comforting. “It really isn’t a problem; I heal much quicker now than I used to. If I could get some food or milk in me, then I might heal even faster.”
Chopper tried to keep the bad-horror-bad feeling from showing on his face. He had a feeling he wasn’t doing a very good job. “Did you used to get injured a lot?”
“…yes.” Brook said after a few moments. “It was hard not to. A pirate’s life isn’t easy, and I had an extra life my comrades did not.”
“No life is expendable.” Chopper said it before he could process the implications. He stilled. He really, really didn’t want to offend Brook or hurt his feelings or-
“Yorki said the same thing.” Brook chuckled softly, sadly. Chopper wasn’t sure who Yorki was, he didn’t ask. “He was probably right, but it didn’t matter in the end. We all died anyway.” Brook’s voice caught lightly, Chopper probably wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t right by Brook’s head.
Chopper very carefully finished the bandaging on Brook’s head, then wiggled to be put down. Brook seemed to snap out of his thoughts, setting Chopper on the ground. “Oh! It would seem I got distracted, I’m so sorry, Ch-”
Chopper hugged him. He was much smaller than Brook, and he had to be careful of Brook’s broken ribs. Brook was hard and cold, but Chopper hoped it had the intended effect all the same.
Brook had gone very still. After a few moments, Chopper felt arms wrap around his back. Chopper breathed a silent sigh of relief.
Chopper wasn’t great at understanding the complexity of human emotions, but he knew that hugs always made him feel better. He’d hoped it would do the same for Brook.
They stayed like that until Chopper felt a drop of rain hit one of his ears. He’d immediately looked upwards because if it was raining then he needed to start getting Zoro inside ten minutes ago- but froze when he saw that it was not raining.
Brook was crying.
It wasn’t a lot, but it was definitely tears coming out of Brook’s empty sockets. It was impossible. But most of Chopper’s day had been impossible, so he nuzzled back into Brook’s side without drawing attention to it.
Chopper wasn’t sure how long it was before Brook pulled away. He didn’t mind. Brook had decades worth of hugs to catch up on, Chopper was sure Luffy would be up to the challenge.
Chopper gave Brook a moment to compose himself before smiling at him. “You’ll come back to the group with me, right? I think Luffy’s trying to get a party set up. You should come celebrate with us!”
Come back with me, let Luffy convince you to stay.
Brook smiled. It was unmistakable, despite his broken and skeletal appearance. He wiped some stray tears from his face. “I… would love to. Thank you.”