43 Chapter 39- Failure

Luffy and the others said their goodbyes to the citizens of Alabasta as they headed towards Drum island. Katakuri continued to train the rest of the crew in observation haki with his ruthless methods, but the results showed themselves fast as Usopp could shoot down a target even while blindfolded. It seems that as an excellent sniper, Usopp was very compatible with observation haki.

"Finally here!" Luffy shouted as the Straw Hats arrived at the island. he was so bored since the whole crew was dead tired from Katakuri's training. Even Brook, who was a literal skeleton, somehow got muscle aches from Katakuri's training. As a result, he couldn't talk to anyone and spent his time navigating the ship instead of Nami.

"Let's go to town first" Law suggested as they went to the small town near them. They walked in silence since Katakuri told them to walk with their eyes closed, meaning they could only use observation haki. Although Katakuri wasn't with the crew for long, he slowly started to warm up to them as a result of the friendly atmosphere that was on the ship, but his transformation skyrocketed when Sanji bought a huge oven in Alabasta and baked him his giant donuts. Though he still ate them alone. Luffy got bored again as they needed a lot of concentration to only navigate with their haki, and as such their speed was incredibly low.

"Alright, I'll go to search for our new crew members. Katakuri, find an inn and rest", Luffy said as he threw Robin a pouch filled with money to test her reaction. Robin managed to sense the pouch a little too late, and could only move her head to the side as to not get hit. A light 'poof' sound was heard as the pouch buried itself in the snow. "Not bad Robin, now pick it up please", Luffy asked. Robin complied and picked the pouch with no problems at all. "I'll get going now", Luffy said as he ran to the large mountain in the distance.

'I remember this climb being a lot harder...' Luffy thought as he climbed the side of the mountain and arrived at the top in less than two minutes. *BAM BAM BAM* Luffy knocked on the door. "Who's there?", an old voice came from inside the building. "I'm searching for a doctor, can you come to help me?" Luffy asked her. "Oh? You're not from here are you?", the women asked. "No, why?" Luffy was curious as to why she asked that. "I can help you, but my reward is that I take anything I want from you", the women answered in a playful tone.{Let's play a game. I'll reveal this women's name at the end of the chapter, and you have to guess it without google and looking at the comments. Only answers written here will be accepted, there is no prize though}

"I see... I also heard there's a 'doctor Chopper' with you? can he come and help me?". Luffy immediately jumped on the opportunity to see Chopper with no sneaking or underhanded means. "HA, him? he's a doctor in training, but I suppose he can help you. For the same price, of course", the gold-hungry women continued to try and rob Luffy. "Can I speak with him and let him decide?" Luffy was starting to get impatient. "I guess that's reasonable, what is the problem you need solving anyway?", the women agreed and asked with curiosity. "I need him to join my crew". "..." silence. "Hehe, not a doctor or me but 'him'? it sounds as if he was your target all along", the women responded with a laugh. "Not to mention that Chopper is hiding as my reindeer so there is absolutely no one who knows about him. Can you explain to me where you heard about him? and how do you know about his training to be a doctor?".

'Damn... Well, I guess she discovered me', Luffy gave up on continuing this show. "I can't tell you how I know about him, but I can tell you that his home is on my ship". Luffy said with a light-hearted tone. "Really? and how do you know that?", the women asked. "Would you believe me if I told you I have a friend who has a devil fruit that lets him see into the future?", Luffy joked. "Hehe, nice try but we both know that if a fruit like that existed, the wold government would have got their filthy hands on it a long time ago". "Can't argue with you there. But still, I wasn't joking when I said that Chopper belongs on our ship", Luffy turned serious.

"The obvious solution to the problem is to ask the reindeer in question no?", the women joked. "CHOPPER! THERE IS SOMETHING I NEED YOUR HELP MOVING! GO OUTSIDE!" the women yelled. "Going!" a cute voice shouted. The door finally opened and a small, humanoid, reindeer with a blue nose stood in front of Luffy. "W-w-what i-is t-this?" Chopper asked the women in a shakey tone. "This man wants you to join his pirate crew, do you agree?", The woman asked with a smile aimed at Luffy. "N-no, I w-want to stay w-with you. Kureha" Chopper answered while shaking and hiding behind Kureha's leg. "You heard him", Kureha said. {Game over, if you haven't guessed before reaching here you're out. (I can't really do anything if you cheated but I trust you'll be tortured by shame (: )}

"Chopper, I know the suffering you had to endure. On my ship, you'll be treated as a crew member, nothing less". Luffy, who knew about Chopper's past and fears tried to calm him down. "G-go away! I'll never join you!" Chopper shouted and stayed behind Kureha's leg. "We have an amazing doctor on our ship! He has a special ability which is perfect for the practice of medicine! you and he could invent cures to all sorts of diseases together!" Luffy didn't give up. "I-I don't want to! you're lying to me!" Chopper couldn't endure the talk, as Luffy brought up all of his hopes, dreams, and fears. Chopper ran and slammed the door in Luffy's face. "I'll stay here! I won't move from this spot until you join me!" Luffy shouted and sat down in the snow. preparing for a long wait.