Chapter 218 - 76

Chapter 76He showed her everything."If you want to thank someone, thank this reckless kid. He risked his life to get you up here.""Mm-hmm." Nami's affection for Luffy was almost overflowing.Kureha might be getting on in years, but she was quite enthusiastic about these young people's affairs; she watched Nami with a mischievous smile on her face."Oh, by the way, his body recovers incredibly fast. A certain restless place settled down long ago, so you don't need to worry about the problem of blocking being worse than letting it flow anymore."Nami's face instantly turned bright red, like a boiled shrimp, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into."What problem?" Luffy asked."No problem!" Nami glared at Luffy fiercely.How strange.Sometimes Luffy didn't know what kind of riddles they were playing at, but most of the time, it was just hard for him to multitask.His brain already needed to develop another processor.One to handle the daily training issues.The remaining processor was in a semi-operational state, like right now, searching the entire castle for Chopper."Hey, Chopper! We're leaving, hurry up and pack your things!"Luffy's loud voice echoed through the empty castle.Maybe he should just kidnap Chopper and take him away in a bit.A rustling sound came from a corner. Behind a cabinet, Chopper cautiously poked out half a head, then immediately retracted it, his heart thumping wildly: "Ugh... I'm about to be found again. This guy is a monster."Clearly, he was supposed to be the monster, but in front of Luffy, it felt like child's play."Really, not a moment of peace."Kureha leaned against the doorframe at some point, took a swig of wine, and looked at Luffyteasingly: "Kid, do you want to kidnap my pet that badly?""Don't you also want Chopper to go out and see the world?" Luffy smiled, adjusting his Straw Hat.Otherwise, Kureha wouldn't have refrained from stopping him entirely.A flash of surprise crossed Kureha's eyes, then she returned to her cynical look and said:"I didn't expect you, who looks so thick-headed, to have such sharp intuition.""Emotions are my specialty." Observation Hakisometimes has wonderful uses in this regard."You don't know what you should know." Kurehaglanced at Nami, curled her lip, and said: "Take him if you want, as long as you can convince this stubborn little guy.""Is there a reason?" Nami stepped forward. "I saw Chopper looked very happy when talking about pirates.""Heart sickness requires heart medicine." Kurehatook a swig of wine: "I can cure bodily diseases, but I can't cure the sickness of the heart."She slowly began to tell Chopper's past.In the reindeer herd of this snowy mountain, Chopper was born with a blue nose, so he was ostracized by his own kind and could only follow the herd from a distance, all alone.No companions, solitary and miserable.Later, he accidentally ate a Devil Fruit and was attacked by the reindeer as a monster, driven away. Chopper felt there was no place for him among the reindeer, so what about as a human? Thus, covered in wounds, he came to a human village.But to humans, that appearance was also that of a monster.Humanity's instinctive fear of the unknown made it impossible for them to accept Chopper.They cursed him, swung blades, and even shot at him, driving him away in every way possible.Kureha looked at Luffy: "For Chopper, he later met the man who changed his life, Hiriluk. He accepted the Chopper who wasn't accepted by his own kind or by humans.""And what about him?""Dead. A third-rate doctor with clumsy medical skills, an idiot who spent all day inventing a panacea, talking in his sleep about making cherry blossoms bloom in this country." Kureha looked at Nami and said:"After Hiriluk died, Chopper came to pester me, saying he wanted to become a doctor who could cure all diseases. But because he has no companions, he has closed off his heart.""So, why are you so persistent about him?" Kurehacouldn't help but ask Luffy."Chopper is a good doctor," Luffy said.Another important point was... a guy who can do a seven-stage transformation is just too cool!"You have good taste; I've passed all my medical skills to him." Kureha was very proud and asked Luffy: "What do you plan to do?""A monster, huh?"Luffy's Observation Haki had long since locked onto that nervous yet curious aura. His Rubber arm stretched out, bypassed the cabinet, and directly hauled out the hiding Chopper.Chapter 102: Nika Joins"Waaaaah! Don't eat me!"Chopper was so scared his limbs kicked wildly, transforming into his hybrid form, his little hooves flailing in the air."Come with us, Chopper." Luffy narrowed his eyes. "Our ship is just missing a monster like you.""How rude of you to say." Nami rolled her eyes, stepped forward, and pulled Luffy's face long with her hands, saying to Chopper: "You can understand it as... there probably aren't many people on our ship who qualify as normal."She counted them; they all seemed to be abnormal people.Chopper was stunned by Luffy's direct invitation. Immense joy intertwined with deep-seated inferiority, making him incoherent:"Eh, I—I can't! I'm a monster... and Dr. Kurehaneeds my help.""Forget that, Chopper," Kureha debunked him. "Hurry up and leave, give my ears some peace."Chopper: "..."Seeing Chopper's state, Luffy already understood.Since it was a heart sickness, use heart medicine.Chopper doesn't believe there are monsters on the ship? Then show him.There were other monsters here besides him.He could still manifest a Nika.He decided to add more fuel to the fire.This unreserved acceptance reminded Chopper of Dr. Hiriluk."I, I..." Chopper blankly shrank his head."First, meet a new companion."Luffy closed his eyes and concentrated."I choose you, Nika."With a crisp sound, the Nika inside his body opened its eyes.[Nika Approval: 60%]A white, steam-like power quickly spread from Luffy's body, becoming visible to the naked eye.Then, under the astonished gazes of Nami and Kureha, Nika emerged."Hahaha, I'm finally out!"An excited and arrogant voice rang out.Immediately after, the white flame clouds began to condense into a shape, and a white raccoon dog appeared.A genuine raccoon dog.In the past, Nika believed the meaning of her existence was to overthrow the Nefertari family—it was the will of the fruit—but she never expected that one day she could emerge from that dark, sunless place.She greedily breathed in the cold air, feeling the long-lost freedom."A monster!" Chopper screamed."What is this? A raccoon dog?" Nami and Kurehaboth leaned in curiously.Nika's form and way of appearing were far too peculiar.Nika was feeling smug and instinctively wanted to put on airs:"Heh, mere mortals.""Seeing me is your honor."Nika thought Luffy was still easy to handle."Straw Hat, it's not impossible for me to help during battle, but you must first offer proper tribute to this Nika.""For example, fine wine, and delicious meat..."She clearly hadn't figured out her situation yet, thinking she could negotiate terms just because she was out.Luffy had anticipated this.He trusted his companions unconditionally, but Nika was at most a tenant right now, and a rather restless one at that.With a thought, a wisp of the white flame clouds surrounding him instantly separated, like a living rope, quickly wrapping around Nika's neck to form an exquisite white collar."Ugh!"Nika immediately felt a suppressive force originating from her very source. The sense of freedom she had just gained vanished instantly, and her body became weak and powerless, as if it might dissipate at any moment.She looked at Luffy in terror, her blood-red eyes filled with disbelief."Straw Hat, what did you do to me?!"She was controlled.The whole process was incredibly smooth.Nika struggled but to no avail. She clearly hadn't reached the point of an Awakening showdown yet, so why was this happening?"Want to go back?" Luffy stared at Nika with a smile.This smile made Nika shudder slightly.Seriously!No wonder he agreed so happily; he was waiting for her here all along.Nika felt cheated. She had initially chosen Luffybecause of his carefree personality—to put it nicely, a pure heart; to put it bluntly, a simple-minded guy.With the collar around her neck, she felt like she had become a domestic cat-girl, only able to meow and roll over to let people pet her belly.Meow when hungry; no meow, no food.The seemingly carefree Straw Hat walked over and, like picking up a kitten, grabbed the white collar and held the weakened Nika in front of Chopper, introducing her:"How about it? I said our ship has plenty of fun things, didn't I?"Nika bared her teeth and grimaced.Luffy gave her a light smack, and her eyes instantly cleared."This is also a companion on our ship, though she's still a bit disobedient right now.""Is this a raccoon dog?!" Chopper leaned in curiously and sniffed Nika with his nose.Nika, who was originally unable to bear the humiliation, couldn't help but look up upon hearing this. She stared at Chopper for a moment and habitually retorted:"Who are you calling a raccoon dog? Aren't you a raccoon dog too? You strange blue-nosed raccoon dog.""I'm a reindeer, you bastard! Look closely, I have antlers!"Chopper puffed out his cheeks and transformed back into his animal form, pointing at his small antlers in rebuttal.On the other side, Nami stepped forward and tugged at Luffy's sleeve. She was skeptical about this suddenly appearing Nika. Why was he always able to pull out all sorts of random things? She couldn't help but ask:"Hey, Luffy, where did you get this 'Nika' from?"She was actually a bit embarrassed to say it.Nika emerging all white from Luffy's body reminded her of some memories she was too shy to associate with.Her gaze swept back and forth between Luffy and Nika, full of suspicion.A talking raccoon dog was rare but not that rare to her—wasn't there a Chopper right next to them? But Luffy's 'picked it up' explanation was way too perfunctory.Hearing this, Nika hurriedly and nervously winked at Luffy.