39 We're the same!
Doctor Kureha was surprised to see Chopper and an unknown woman carry three patients into her home. She wouldn't turn away a patient of course and being strangers they might have something of value she could fleece from them in exchange for her treatment.
The two men weren't in too bad of shape and they were strong enough to recuperate on their own, so she had Chopper tend to their wounds.
The orange haired woman was the real problem. She was infected with an ancient disease only carried by a certain insect on ancient islands.
Thankfully it wasn't too late to treat her and she also possessed the necessary antibiotic. It wasn't a common medicine, so the young woman was very lucky she had some.
"Is Nami going to be okay?" The black winged woman asked. She was sitting on a chair away from all the shelves, after being shouted at for knocking things off with her wings.
"She'll be fine in about 3 days." Kureha answered.
"Oh, that's great!" Cabernet beamed. "Cherry said she would be within the week. I'm glad she'll be okay!"
Kureha was surprised to hear that. 'Kestia is believed to have gone extinct a hundred years ago. Is this Cherry that knowledgeable or does she just have good senses?'
When Kureha came out of her thoughts, Cabernet was looking at her like she had more questions.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want to know the secret to my youth?" Kureha joked.
"OH! Will you tell me?!" Contrary to Kureha's expectations, the winged woman was actually interested.
"Sure, you just have to pay me 100,000,000 Beri! Heeheeheehee!" She laughed seeing Cabernet slump in disappointment.
Later on, Nami woke up and startled Chopper who promptly scurried off. Doctor Kureha checked on her condition and explained just how close she'd been to death.
A loud commotion began somewhere outside. Chopper came bounding into into the room with Sanji and Luffy close on his tail, seeming to want to eat him.
Cabernet appeared behind them with a demonic look on her face.
Both Cabernet and Chopper transformed, Chopper into a larger muscular humanoid form and Cabernet into a 5 meter tall wooden version of herself that looked like the figure head of a ship. They clobbered the heads of Sanji and Luffy simultaneously and ran off into the castle together.
""You transformed! How did you do that?!"" They asked simultaneously as they ran.
""I ate the human human fruit."" They both answered, but Cabernet added "Model: Lunarian."
"But you looked like you turned into wood?" Chopper asked, confused.
"I was originally a ship! What were you before?" Cabernet asked.
"I'm a reindeer..." Chopper informed, still trying to wrap his head around a ship eating a devil fruit.
"More importantly, we're the same! Kind of sort of in a way..." Cabernet smiled in delight for having something in common with him.
Chopper was filled with mixed emotions. He didn't know just how much he longed for similarity with another living creature until this moment. Doctor Kureha and Doctor Hiriluk were as good as family, but they were also normal humans. He could not truly feel the same as them even if they had treated him as if he were no different than any other person.
But here was another non-human who had eaten a human human devil fruit. Although she looked fairly normal by human standards, she was also terrifying. He imagined she would have been feared by humans just as he had.
*sniff sniff*
Chopper caught a scent on the air as they passed the front door of the castle. "This scent?!"
He transformed into his reindeer form and charged back towards where Kureha was. To warn her that Wapol had returned.
...
In Big Horn, the snow of the avalanche had settled.
Most of Wapol's standard soldiers had returned to take shelter from the blizzicane that grew ever more ferocious by the minute.
Wapol's Isshi-20 doctors had stayed behind and began treating the citizens who needed any medical help, as well as came to tend to Dalton and Cherry.
The citizenry didn't want to help Wapol's soldiers, but leaving them to die in the storm left a bad taste in their mouths. They decided to help, but only if the soldiers gave up their arms first.
The soldiers were more inclined to use force to get what they wanted, but after finding out about Jaxin's humiliating defeat at the hands of Cherry they surrendered.
After being treated, Dalton stood and made his way out of the home.
"Where are you going, bull-man?" Cherry asked.
"I'm going after Wapol, I can't let him do whatever he wants in this country." He said resolutely.
His words seemed to stir something within Usopp and Vivi, while Zoro just seemed to want a good fight. All three said they'd come along. Cherry just followed along, figuring there wasn't any real risk with Cabernet being up there with the others.
Some of the hardier militia men joined him as well, one of whom seemed to know of a safer way up the mountain that was only just found. A cable attached to Doctor Kureha's old home leading to the castle.
The piling snow and hail rained down upon them, but Cherry and Zoro were able to deal with the worst hailstones. They reached the cable car and began there way upwards.
Dalton revealed some of the country's history of oppression under Wapol, as well as the sacrifice of a kind quack doctor named Hiriluk. He revealed some dynamite that he planned to use to end Wapol's reign of terror once and for all.
...
Chopper, Kureha, and Cabernet were waiting outside the castle as Wapol and his two goons arrived at the top. Luffy and Sanji came outside as well, then Luffy rushed towards Wapol and nearly knocked him back down the mountain.
Apparently he was quite frustrated from before when he couldn't fight back.
Wapol transformed into some strange human factory hybrid and ate his two followers, spitting them back out in a "combined" stated, though it looked more like they were piggybacking as Sanji suggested.
Wapol tried to destroy the pirate flag flying over the castle, but Luffy protected it. A fight ensued with Luffy vs Wapol and the combined minions vs Chopper, Kureha stopped Sanji from interfering and Cabernet seemed to understand at least a little bit that Chopper needed to fight for himself.
Chopper used some strange medicine, which caught Cabernet's attention, and ultimately won his fight. Luffy had been distracted, so Wapol escaped into the castle.
A big chase ensued with Wapol running around in search of weapons and threatening Nami. Eventually Wapol was stuck in the roof of a tower and Luffy blasted him into the distance with his "bazooka" attack, just in time for Dalton's group to arrive and witness it.
The whole thing was wrapped up real nicely. Chopper resolving his past trauma, Dalton having his homeland's foe dealt with, and Luffy seeming to find his crew's new doctor.
The storm raged for only 3 or 4 hours as they took shelter within the castle. Nami managed to get her treatment fees waved since she swiped Wapol's armory key, which Kureha wanted for some reason.
Luffy and Cabernet managed to track down chopper who had been dodging them. He insisted he wouldn't join the crew, but it was clear he wanted to go with them. Luffy told him to shut up and come along, which seemed to be the last push he needed to accept.
He went to tell Doctor Kureha he was leaving, but it started an argument between them. Chopper insisting that he had to go and Kureha refusing to allow it.
Chopper brought the group down the mountain on a sled along the cable. When they reach the bottom and had traveled a ways, they heard cannon fire from the castle.
They turned to see an incredible sight. In the night sky illuminated by the full moon, there was a great mass of pink snow that was shaped like a beautiful, blooming cherry blossom.
